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U.  S.  DEPARTMENT  OF 
AGRICULTURE 

FARMERS'  BULLETIN  No.  755 


COMMON  BIRDS 
of  SOUTHEASTERN 
UNITED  STATES 

in  relation,  to 

AGRICULTURE 


FROM  a  purely  practical  point  of  view  the  most 
important  of  the  relations  of  native  birds  to  man 
are  the  economic.  The  esthetic  value  of  birds  is 
great,  greater  indeed  than  that  of  any  other  group 
of  animals;  and  that  this  is  a  real  and  especially  a 
treasured  value  is  not  to  be  denied.  But  it  is  in  their 
relation  to  insect  and  other  enemies  of  crops  that 
birds  are  most  directly  associated  with  the  welfare 
of  mankind,  and  their  value  in  this  particular  should 
be  made  as  widely  known  as  possible.  This  bulletin 
is  one  of  a  series  designed  to  assist  in  doing  this. 
Not  all  birds  are  beneficial,  and  all  facts  tending  to 
show  in  which  class  each  species  belongs  will  be  set 
forth.  The  useful  kinds  far  outnumber  the  injuri¬ 
ous,  however,  and  so  great  is  their  value  as  insect 
destroyers  in  the  United  States  that  to  them  may 
be  given  the  credit  of  being  one  of  the  greatest  con¬ 
trolling  factors  in  limiting  the  development  of  insect 
pests  and  in  preventing  many  disastrous  outbreaks. 
In  the  following  pages  are  discussed  the  food  habits 
and  relation  to  agriculture  of  23  species  of  birds  com¬ 
mon  in  the  Southeastern  States.  The  bulletin  will 
be  of  general  interest,  but  is  especially  applicable  to 
the  section  shown  by  the  shaded  portion  of  the  map 
on  page  3. 


Issued  October  26,  1916;  revised  July,  1918 
Washington,  D.  C.  Revised  June,  1923 

_  -  _ _ 


"  73^ 


COMMON  BIRDS  OF  SOUTHEASTERN  UNITED 
STATES  IN  RELATION  TO  AGRICULTURE. 


F.  E.  L.  Beal,  Late  Assistant  Biologist ,  W.  L.  McAtee,  in  Charge  of  Division ,  and 
E.  R.  Kalmbach,  Assistant  Biologist,  Division  of  Food  Habits  Research,  Bureau  of 
Biological  Survey. 


House  wren . 

Carolina  wren . 

Mockingbird . 

Brown  thrasher. . . . 

Cardinal . 

Gray  grosbeak . 

Painted  bunting.. . 

Common  crow . 

Blue jay . 

Meadowlark . 

Boat-tailed  grackle 
Bluebird . 


CONTENTS. 


Page. 

8 

10 

12 

14 

16 

17 

18 
20 
21 
22 

25 

26 


Carolina  chickadee . . 

Tufted  titmouse . . 

Purple  martin . 

Scissor-tailed  flycatcher — 
Red-cockaded  woodpecker 

Chuck- will’s- widow . . 

Nighthawk . 

Yellow-billed  cuckoo . 

Bob- white . 

Barn  owl . 

Turkey  buzzard . . 


Page. 

27 

29 

31 

32 

34 

35 

36 

37 

39 

40 

41 


IN  THE  Southeastern  States,  as  restricted  for  the  purposes  of  this 
bulletin  (fig.  1),  there  occur  at  some  season  of  the  year  more  than 
460  species  of  birds.  Of  these,  about  280  are  common,  and  the  num¬ 
ber  includes  some  of 
the  handsomest  birds 
of  the  United  States, 
as  the  scissor-tailed 
flycatcher,  the  paint¬ 
ed  bunting,  and  the 
cardinal;  besides 
some  of  the  most 
pleasing  songsters,  as 
the  last-named 
species,  the  mocking- 
bird,  the  brown 
thrasher,  and  the 
Carolina  wren.  The 

general  habits,  and  particularly  the  economic  value,  of  23  of  the  best« 
known  species  are  treated  in  the  following  pages. 


Fig.  1. — Map  of  the  United  States,  the  shaded  area  showing  the  territory 
to  which  this  bulletin  applies. 


V. 


3 


4 


FARMERS7  BULLETIN  755. 


The  food  habits  of  southeastern  birds  are  of  particular  interest  on 
account  of  the  prevalence  in  this  section  of  the  countr}7  of  a  number 
of  the  worst  insect  enemies  of  agriculture,  many  of  which  are  eagerly 
sought  by  birds.  One  need  only  recall  such  pests  as  the  cotton  boll 
weevil,  the  bollworm,  and  the  chinch  bug  to  realize  with  what  serious 
foes  the  farmer  of  the  Southeastern  States  has  to  contend.  It  is 
hoped  that  knowledge  of  the  part  birds  play  in  combating  his  enemies 
will  lead  the  southern  farmer  to  take  an  active  interest  in  securing 
full  protection  for  these,  his  feathered  allies. 

Cotton  being  the  leading  crop  in  the  Southeast,  the  bird  enemies 
of  cotton  insect  pests  naturally  deserve  first  consideration.  Few  in 
all  this  broad  land  are  ignorant  of  the  tremendous  damage  done  by 
the  cotton  boll  weevil.  For  some  years  it  has 
most  destructive  pest  in  the  United  States.  Special  study  of  its  bird 
enemies  has  been  made,  and  the  result  is  that  66  species  are  now 
known  which,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  prey  upon  the  boll  weevil. 
A  list  of  these,  which  constitutes  a  roll  of  honor  among  southeastern 
birds,  is  here  given: 

Bird  Enemies  of  the  Cotton  Boll  Weevil. 

Cliff  swallow. 

Bara  swallow. 

Tree  swallow. 

Bank  swallow. 
Rough-winged  swallow. 
Loggerhead  shrike. 
White-eyed  vireo. 

Yellow  warbler. 

Myrtle  warbler. 

Pine  warbler. 

Maryland  yellow-throat. 
Yellow-breasted  chat. 
American  pipit. 
Mockingbird. 

Brown  thrasher. 

Carolina  wren. 

Bewick  wren. 

Winter  wren. 

Tufted  titmouse. 
Black-crested  titmouse. 
Carolina  chickadee. 
Bluebird. 


Upland  plover. 

Killdeer. 

Bob-white. 

Red-headed  woodpecker. 
Flicker. 

Nighthawk. 

Chimney  swift. 
Scissor-tailed  flycatcher. 
Kingbird. 

Crested  flycatcher. 
Phoebe. 

Olive-sided  flycatcher. 
Wood  pewee. 

Alder  flycatcher. 

Least  flycatcher. 

Blue  jay. 

Cowbird. 

Red-winged  blackbird. 
Meadowlark. 

Western  meadowlark. 
Orchard  oriole.  (Fig.  2.) 
Baltimore  oriole. 


Bullock  oriole. 

Rusty  blackbird. 

Brewer  blackbird. 
Bronzed  grackle. 
Boat-tailed  grackle. 
English  sparrow. 

Vesper  sparrow. 
Savannah  sparrow. 

Lark  sparrow. 
White-throated  sparrow. 
Field  sparrow. 

Chipping  sparrow. 
Swamp  sparrow. 

Fox  sparrow. 

Towhee. 

Cardinal. 

Gray  grosbeak. 

Blue  grosbeak. 

Painted  bunting. 

Indigo  bunting. 
Dickcissel. 

Purple  martin. 


easily  ranked  as  the 


COMMON  BIRDS  OF  SOUTHEASTERN  UNITED  STATES 


5 


Fig.  2.— Orchard  oriole  ( Icterus  spurius );  upper  figure,  male;  lower,  female.  Length,  about  7£ 
inches.  Three  kinds  of  orioles  are  prominent  among  bird  enemies  of  the  boll  weevil.  Of  these 
the  orchard  oriole  is  most  common  in  the  Southeastern  States.  rl  he  food  habits  of  orioles  in 
general  are  commendable. 


6 


FARMERS ’  BULLETIN  755. 


The  most  active  of  these  enemies  of  the  boll  weevil  are  the  orioles, 
which  actually  take  the  insects  from  the  squares  of  the  cotton  plant, 
and  the  swallows,  which  feed  upon  the  weevils  when  they  are  in  flight 
and  seeking  to  extend  their  range.  No  fewer  than  41  boll  weevils 
have  been  found  in  a  single  stomach  of  the  Bullock  oriole,  and  large 
numbers  of  the  weevils  are  habitually  taken  by  all  species  of  swallows. 
Every  one  of  a  series  of  35  eave  swallows  had  eaten  boll  weevils,  the 
largest  number  in  any  stomach  being  48,  and  the  average  19.  In 
winter  the  most  important  destroyers  of  these  insects  are  blackbirds, 
meadowlarks,  titlarks,  and  Carolina  wrens. 

Forty-one  species  1  of  birds  feed  upon  the  cotton  worm.  Of  these 
bird-enemies,  cuckoos  are  most  effective,  since  they  frequently  consume 
from  100  to  150  cotton  worms  at  a  meal.  The  orioles  again  deserve 
especial  mention,  as  do  also  the  crow,  the  curve-billed  thrasher,  mock¬ 
ingbird,  cardinal,  and  gray  grosbeak.  The  bollworm,  or  corn-ear 
worm,  is  attacked  by  12  southeastern  birds,  of  which  the  boat-tailed 
grackle,  or  jackdaw,  has  the  best  record.  Seven  species  of  birds  feed 
upon  the  cotton  cutworm. 

If  insect  pests  are  considered  in  the  order  of  the  importance  of  the 
crops  they  attack,  those  damaging  corn  and  other  grain  crops  probably 
are  next  to  the  cotton  insects.  White  grubs  are  a  serious  pest  not 
only  to  corn  but  to  strawberries,  various  garden  crops,  and  grasses. 
Fifty-seven  species  of  southeastern  birds  devour  white  grubs  or  the 
adult  forms  known  as  May  beetles.  The  nighthawk,  chuck-wilFs- 
widow,  crow,  and  screech  owl  are  the  most  voracious  feeders  on  the 
adults,  and  the  crow,  crow  blackbird,  and  robin  on  the  larvae.  Re¬ 
mains  of  no  fewer  than  91  adults  have  been  found  in  a  single  stomach 
of  the  nighthawk,  or  bull-bat,  a  bird  which  has  been  much  persecuted 
but  which  deserves  the  strictest  protection. 

Wireworms  are  especially  injurious  to  corn,  but  they  damage  all 
other  grains,  as  well  as  many  garden  crops.  These  pests  are  the 
larvae  of  click  beetles,  of  which  there  are  many  species.  One  hun¬ 
dred  and  twenty-eight  southeastern  birds  include  click  beetles  or  wire- 
worms  in  their  bill  of  fare.  The  most  efficient  destroyers  of  these 
pests  are  the  following:  Downy  and  red-bellied  woodpeckers,  night- 
hawk,  kingbird,  great-crested  flycatcher,  crow,  blue  jay,  crow 
blackbird,  red-winged  blackbird,  lark  sparrow,  tree  swallow,  purple 
martin,  house  wren,  and  robin.  From  20  to  40  wireworms  have  been 
found  in  each  of  several  robin  stomachs. 

Corn  is  seriously  damaged  by  billbugs  also.  The  larvae  bore  into 
the  stem  and  the  adult  weevils  injure  the  leaves.  Fifty-five  species 
of  birds  occurring  in  the  Southeastern  States  feed  upon  these  insects. 
Those  consuming  the  largest  numbers  are  the  killdeer,  upland  plover, 


1  This  and  similar  figures  must  be  understood  as  representing  only  present  knowledge — other  species 
may  at  any  time  be  added  to  the  lists  of  bird-enemies  of  the  various  insect  pests. 


COMMON  BIRDS  OF  SOUTHEASTERN  UNITED  STATES.  7 

nighthawk,  crow,  red-headed  woodpecker,  and  the  yellow-headed 
and  crow  blackbirds.  Forty-three  kinds  of  birds  feed  upon  the  army 
worms,  pests  destructive  to  corn  and  all  small  grains.  Eighty-eight 
southeastern  species  devour  cutworms,  which  are  often  the  despair 
of  giain  growers  and  gardeners.  Largest  numbers  of  cutworms  have 
been  found  in  stomachs  of  the  prairie  chicken,  bob-white,  wood 
duck,  woodcock,  sparrow  hawk,  yellow-billed  cuckoo,  nighthawk, 
red-headed  woodpecker,  crow  blackbird,  meadowlark,  English  spar¬ 
row,  cardinal,  and  robin. 

No  insect  enemy  of  corn  and  wheat  is  more  destructive  than  the 
chinch  bug;  when  it  is  numerous,  fields  are  blasted  as  if  by  fire.  It 
is  often  said  that  the  chinch  bug  has  few  natural  enemies,  but  the 
work  of  birds,  24  species  of  which  feed  upon  chinch  bugs,  should  not 
be  overlooked.  Over  100  of  these  pests  have  been  found  in  single 
stomachs  of  the  bob-white  and  meadowlark,  and  over  200  in  one 
of  a  brown  thrasher.  Other  birds  consuming  chinch  bugs  in  con¬ 
siderable  numbers  are  the  flicker,  the  crow,  the  barn,  tree,  and  cliff 
swallows,  and  the  house  wren.  The  southern  corn  leaf  beetle,  a  pest 
that  has  come  to  be  of  considerable  importance  in  the  past  few  years, 
is  devoured  by  22  kinds  of  birds.  Those  taking  the  largest  numbers 
are  the  mockingbird,  the  Bewick  wren,  and  the  house  wren. 

Among  other  corn  insects  may  be  mentioned  the  southern  corn 
rootworm  (or  spotted  cucumber  beetle),  eaten  by  26  species  of  south¬ 
eastern  birds;  beetles  of  a  group  including  the  cane  root  borer  and 
the  carrot  beetle,  devoured  by  18  species;  and  the  brown  fruit-chafer, 
by  21.  The  last-named  beetle  feeds  also  on  apples,  pears,  and 
peaches,  as  does  a  related  insect  known  as  the  southern  fig  eater. 
Fourteen  species  of  birds  prey  upon  the  fig  eater,  the  crow  most 
extensively. 

The  insect  pests  of  clover  and  other  forage  crops  in  the  South¬ 
eastern  States  also  are  sought  by  many  birds.  Perhaps  more  dam¬ 
age  is  done  in  the  aggregate  by  leafhoppers  than  by  other  enemies 
of  these  crops.  Exactly  100  species  of  southeastern  birds  are  now 
known  to  feed  on  these  small  but  exceedingly  numerous  insect  pests. 
Largest  numbers  of  leafhoppers  have  been  found  in  stomachs  of  the 
nighthawk,  chimney  swift,  barn  swallow,  and  yellow-headed  black¬ 
bird.  Clover  is  attacked  by  a  number  of  insect  pests,  including  the 
imbricated-snout  beetle  and  the  various  clover  weevils.  The  first 
named  is  eaten  by  20  kinds  of  birds,  of  which  the  crow,  crow  black¬ 
bird,  and  catbird  seem  most  voracious.  The  common  or  large  clover 
leaf  weevil  is  the  prey  of  25  species  of  birds.  The  nighthawk,  crow, 
red-headed  woodpecker,  purple  martin,  and  crow  blackbird  have  the 
best  records  for  destruction  of  adults,  and  the  Savannah  and  vesper 
sparrows  of  the  larvae.  The  smaller  clover  weevils  are  eaten  by  74 
species  of  southeastern  birds.  Largest  numbers  of  these  weevils 


8 


FARMERS'  BULLETIN  755. 


have  been  found  in  the  stomachs  of  the  robin,  hermit  thrush,  tufted 
titmouse,  and  white-crowned  sparrow,  and  of  the  following  four 
species  of  birds,  some  representative  of  each  of  which  had  con¬ 
sumed  at  one  meal  more  than  50  individuals:  Nighthawk,  chimney 
swift,  tree  swallow,  and  purple  martin. 

It  is  perhaps  worth  while  to  mention  the  bird  predators  upon  cer¬ 
tain  insect  enemies  of  truck  crops.  The  destructive  little  cucumber 
flea  beetle  and  its  congeners,  which  feed  on  potato,  tomato,  sweet 
potato,  eggplant,  and  tobacco,  are  preyed  upon  by  19  species 
of  southeastern  birds.  The  sweet  potato  flea  beetle  and  its  allies 
have  28  known  bird  enemies  in  this  section;  the  grapevine  leaf  beetle, 
21;  the  grape  flea  beetle,  23;  and  the  bean  leaf  beetle,  19.  The  rice 
weevil  has  been  found  in  stomachs  of  20  species  of  birds,  the  notori¬ 
ous  Colorado  potato  beetle  in  26,  and  the  periodical  cicada,  or  17- 
year  locust,  in  33.  Pests  of  considerable  importance  in  the  South 
whose  bird  enemies  it  is  well  to  mention  are  the  horseflies.  These 
are  preyed  upon  by  49  species  of  southeastern  birds.  The  stomach 
of  one  killdeer  contained  40  horsefly  larvse. 

The  foregoing  demonstrates  that  many  of  the  worst  pests  of  south¬ 
ern  agriculture  have  enemies  in  the  bird  world.  The  insects  which 
have  been  considered  chiefly  are  those  destructive  to  grain  and  field 
crops;  but  among  forest  insects,  fruit  insects,  and  all  the  host  that 
prey  upon  truck  and  garden  crops,  few  can  be  mentioned  that  do  not 
have  important  bird  enemies.  F armers  should  recognize  their  friends 
and  do  all  in  their  power  to  protect  them. — w.  l.  m. 

HOUSE  WREN.1 

The  house  wren  (fig.  3),  a  fussy,  flighty,  and  fidgety  little  midget,  frequents  the 
vicinity  of  barns  and  gardens  and  particularly  old  orchards  where  the  trees  are  par¬ 
tially  decayed.  Never  for  a  moment  at  rest  while  there  is  a  ray  of  daylight,  it  would 
seem  that  his  small  body  must  soon  be  worn  out  by  his  incessant  activity.  His 
voice,  as  tireless  as  his  wings,  is  heard  from  morning  until  night  about  the  garden  and 
orchard  where  he  seeks  his  daily  food,  and  while  not  very  melodious  it  is  cheerful 
and  suggestive  of  life  and  activity. 

Probably  no  bird  displays  greater  eccentricity  in  the  selection  of  a  nesting  site  than 
the  house  wren.  A  hollow  branch  or  a  knothole  in  a  post  or  stump  are  his  more 
prosaic  choices.  When  more  esthetically  inclined  he  affects  old  boots  or  hats  hung 
up  to  scare  the  robin  from  the  cherries,  or  takes  an  old  copper  pot  or  tomato  can  lying 
on  the  roof  of  a  back  shed;  or,  if  the  gardener  hangs  his  coat  on  the  fence  when  warm 
weather  begins  and  forgets  it  for  a  few  days,  he  may  find  when  he  returns  that  an 
enterprising  wren  has  preempted  one  of  the  pockets  and  has  his  domestic  affairs  under 
full  headway.  The  empty  skull  of  a  horse  or  cow  when  set  on  a  post  by  the  frolic¬ 
some  schoolboy  makes  an  excellent  nesting  place  for  the  wren,  who  is  never  troubled 
by  the  ghost  of  the  former  occupant.  Whatever  place  he  chooses,  his  ambition  is 
to  occupy  the  whole  of  it.  This  he  accomplishes  by  carrying  in  sticks,  straws,  and 
other  rubbish  until  all  available  space  is  filled,  only  just  room  enough  being  left  for 
the  mother  bird  and  her  eggs. 


1  Troglodytes  aedon. 


COMMON  BIRDS  OF  SOUTHEASTERN  UNITED  STATES. 


9 


Curious  as  may  be  the  nesting  habits  of  this  little  creature,  his  chief  interest  to  the 
farmer  and  gardener  centers  about  his  tastes  in  the  matter  of  food.  He  aspires  to  a 
large  family;  six  to  a  brood  is  his  favorite  number,  and  this  he  likes  to  duplicate  once 
or  twice  in  the  course  of  the  summer;  of  course  so  many  mouths  to  be  filled  require 
great  activity  on  the  part  of  the  head  of  the  family,  but  the  wren  is  fully  equal  to  the 
task  and  his  brood  never  suffers  from  hunger.  He  is  an  industrious  forager,  search¬ 
ing  every  tree,  shrub,  and  vine  for  caterpillars  and  examining  every  post  and  rail 
of  the  fence  and  every  cranny  in  the  wall  for  insects  and  spiders. 

The  wren  is  found  all  over  the  United  States  east  of  the  Great  Plains  in  summer 
and  it  winters  in  the  Southern  States. 

For  the  purpose  of  this  paper  the  food  of  68  birds  was  examined  and  found  to  consist 
entirely  of  animal  matter  (mostly  insects).  The  largest  four  items,  taken  in  the  order 

of  their  size,  are  bugs, 
grasshoppers  and  their 
allies,  caterpillars,  and 
beetles.  Beetles  collec¬ 
tively  constitute  13.81 
per  cent  of  the  food. 
Of  these,  the  predacious 
ground  beetles  and  a 
number  of  “ladybugs” 
(3.03  per  cent)  are  prac¬ 
tically  the  only  useful 
insects  eaten  by  the 
wren.  Snout  b  eetles, 
or  weevils  (4. 93  per  cent), 
are  eaten  in  every  month 
of  the  wren’s  stay  in  the 
South.  Other  beetles 
(5.85  per  cent)  are  largely 
of  the  leaf-beetle  family, 
to  which  belong  some 
of  the  greatest  pests  in 

Fig.  3. — House  wren.  Length,  about  5  inches.  the  insect  world. 

Moths  and  caterpillars  reach  very  nearly  the  same  percentage  as  beetles.  The 
former  are  eaten  to  the  extent  of  13.9  per  cent,  but  many  are  adult  insects  instead 
of  caterpillars.  The  wren  seems  to  have  a  decided  taste  for  these  fuzzy  creatures. 

Grasshoppers  and  their  kin— crickets,  locusts,  etc.— were  represented  in  the  food 
of  every  month  in  goodly  numbers,  the  aggregate  being  17 .61  per  cent.  The  greatest 
consumption  occurred  in  January  (31.2  per  cent)  and  November  (31  per  cent  ,  the 
smallest,  a  mere  trifle,  in  April.  The  largest  item  in  the  food  is  made  up  of  bugs  (.9.34 
per  cent)  chiefly  stinkbugs,  a  few  negro  bugs,  and  some  leaflioppers;  but  a  good 
many  more  are  those  slim-bodied,  long-legged,  slow-moving  creatures  that  may  be 
found  straddling  over  the  herbage  about  pools  or  wet  places  and  over  bushes.  The 
thread-legged  bugs  and  marsh  treaders  are  examples.  As  these  creatures  hao  e  no  great 
economic  significance,  so  far  as  known,  the  wren  does  neither  good  nor  harm  in  ea  ang 
them.  The  stinkbugs,  negro  bugs,  and  tree-hoppers  and  leaflioppers  are  harmful 
insects,  and  in  eating  them  and  feeding  them  to  its  young  the  wren  is  an  aid  to 

^Ante^reeaten  to  the  extent  of  8.2  per  cent  of  the  yearly  food,  and  in  March  con¬ 
stitute  22  67  per  cent.  Bees  and  wasps  amount  to  3.27  per  cent.  Hies,  a  meie  n  e 
in  the  food  Jf  the  wren,  are  evidently  left  to  the  more  fleet  flycatchers  and  s«  allows. 

33782°— 23— Bull.  755 - 2 


10 


FARMERS }  BULLETIN  755. 


Spiders  are  acceptable  and  are  captured  every  month  in  the  season.  The  wren  finds 
these  when  searching  under  piles  of  lumber  or  brush,  stone  walls,  hollow  logs,  out¬ 
houses,  and  sheds.  They  aggregate  10.51  per  cent  of  the  food,  and  in  March  32.5  per 
cent.  Millepeds  (thousand-legs)  form  a  part  (2.76  per  cent)  of  the  food  of  the  first  four 
months  of  the  year,  six-sevenths  of  them  being  eaten  in  April.  Other  creatures, 
as  sowbugs  and  snails,  were  found  in  a  few  stomachs,  but  are  a  negligible  quantity. 

No  accusation  has  been  brought  against  the  wren  that  it  harms  fruit  or  other  farm 
products.  Both  field  observation  and  stomach  examination  show  that  it  consumes 
great  numbers  of  noxious 
insects,  thereby  benefiting 
the  farmer  and  gardener. 

It  is  a  cheery,  bustling 
little  creature  to  have 
about  the  homestead  and 
should  be  thoroughly  pro- 
tected.  Put  up  a  box 
where  cats  can  not  get  at 
it  and  the  wren  will  pay 
good  rent. — r.  e.  l.  b.1 

CAROLINA  WREN.2 

The  Carolina  wren  (fig. 

4)  is  resident  from  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico  north  to 
the  southern  boundaries  of 
Iowa,  Illinois,  and  Con¬ 
necticut  in  the  breeding 
season,  but  in  winter  with- 
draws  somewhat  farther 
south.  It  is  a  bird  of  the  - 
thicket  and  undergrowth, 
preferring  to  place  its  nest 
in  holes  and  crannies  but 
when  necessary  will  build 
a  bulky  structure  in  a 
tangle  of  twigs  and  vines. 

Unlike  the  house  wren  it 
does  not  ordinarily  use 
the  structures  of  man  for 
nesting  sites.  It  is  one  of 
the  few  American  birds 
that  sing  throughout  the 
year.  Most  birds  sing,  or 
try  to,  in  the  mating  sea¬ 
son,  but  the  Carolina  wren 
may  be  heard  pouring 
forth  his  melody  of  song 
every  month.  The  writer’s 
first  introduction  to  this  bird  was  in  the  month  of  January  when  he  heard  gushing 
from  a  thicket  a  song  which  reminded  him  of  June  instead  of  midwinter. 

This  wren  keeps  up  the  reputation  of  the  family  as  an  insect  eater,  as  over  nine- 
tenths  of  its  diet  consists  of  insects  and  their  allies.  In  this  investigation  of  its  food 


Fig.  4. — Carolina  wren.  Length,  about  5J  inches . 


Prof.  F.  E.  L.  Beal,  the  most  experienced  economic  ornithologist  in  the  country,  died  on  October  1 
1916,  just  before  the  original  issue  of  this  bulletin  came  from  the  press.— Editor. 

2  Thryothorus  ludovicianus. 


COMMON  BIRDS  OF  SOUTHEASTERN  UNITED  STATES. 


11 


there  were  examined  291  stomachs,  representing  every  month.  Their  contents  were 
made  up  of  94.18  per  cent  animal  matter,  nearly  all  insects,  and  5.82  per  cent  vegetable, 
chiefly  seeds.  A  very  marked  uniformity  in  the  diet  is  noticeable,  the  winter  season 
showing  almost  as  great  a  consumption  of  insects  as  the  summer. 

Of  the  animal  food,  beetles  amount  to  13.64  per  cent,  all  injurious  except  a  few 
useful  predatory  ground  beetles  (1.71  per  cent);  two-fifths  of  these  were  eaten  in 
December,  presumably  on  account  of  scarcity  of  other  insects.  Many  species  of  snout 
beetles,  or  weevils,  were  identified  (4.29  per  cent),  but  the  most  interesting  economi¬ 
cally  is  the  cotton  boll  weevil,  31  individuals  of  which  were  found  in  18  stomachs. 
Other  beetles,  like  the  12-spotted  cucumber  beetle,  the  striped  cucumber  beetle,  the 
bean  leaf  beetle,  and  numerous  so-called  flea  beetles,  all  more  or  less  harmful,  occur 
in  many  stomachs  and  form  7.64  per  cent  of  the  total  food. 

Ants  (4.63  per  cent)  were  found  in  the  stomachs  collected  every  month  except 
September  and  in  very  uniform  quantities.  The  greatest  consumption  was  in  July 
(8.81  per  cent).  For  each  of  the  11  months  bees  and  wasps  amount  to  about  the 
same  as  the  ants.  Bugs,  with  one  exception,  are  the  most  important  item  in  the 
diet  of  the  Carolina  wren  (18.91  per  cent),  and  were  eaten  every  month,  with  a  good 
percentage  for  each.  The  maximum  (32.16  per  cent)  was  taken  in  February.  The 
majority  of  the  insects  eaten  were  of  the  larger  species,  as  stinkbugs,  or  soldier  bugs, 
leaf-legged  bugs,  and  leafhoppers.  Four  stomachs  contained  the  chinch  bug  and  in 
one  there  were  5  individuals.  Scale  insects  destructive  to  oranges  were  found  in  one 
stomach. 

Caterpillars  and  a  few  moths,  the  largest  item  in  the  food  (21.73  per  cent),  were 
eaten  every  month  with  a  good  percentage  for  each.  The  month  of  greatest  consump¬ 
tion  is  September,  when  they  constitute  more  than  one-third  of  the  whole  food  (39  per 
cent).  No  special  pest  was  observed,  but  as  the  Carolina  wren  is  a  small  bird  the 
caterpillars  are  usually  so  torn  to  pieces  that  the  species  can  not  be  determined; 
and  the  moths  eaten  were  so  fragile  as  to  be  unidentifiable  after  the  process  of  digestion 
had  begun. 

Grasshoppers  and  crickets,  with  a  few  other  orthopterous  insects,  as  cockroaches  and 
their  eggs,  constitute  12.57  per  cent  of  food  of  the  Carolina  wren  and  form  a  fairly  large 
percentage  of  the  food  from  July  to  the  end  of  the  year.  The  average  consumption  for 
these  months  is  19.65  per  cent,  while  that  for  the  first  six  months  is  only  5.49  per  cent. 
As  with  many  other  birds  the  month  of  greatest  consumption  is  August  (26.9  per  cent). 

Flies  do  not  appear  very  acceptable  as  food  to  the  wren.  None  were  eaten  in 
January,  August,  or  September,  and  comparatively  few  in  the  other  months.  The 
average  for  the  year  is  a  trifle  over  3  per  cent.  The  sort  mostly  taken  are  the  so-called 
“ daddy  longlegs,”  or  crane  flies. 

Spiders  are  apparently  very  attractive  to  wrens  in  general,  particularly  to  the 
Carolina  wren,  winch  probably  finds  them  when  investigating  crannies  of  buildings, 
piles  of  lumber,  or  heaps  of  brush,  as  is  its  habit  when  looking  for  nesting  sites,  or  when 
not  pressed  by  other  responsibilities.  This  wren  eats  spiders  in  every  month,  and  in 
the  five  months  from  April  to  August  to  the  extent  of  16.67  per  cent  for  each.  In 
the  remaining  seven  months  spiders  aggregate  6.16  per  cent  of  the  food,  an  unusual 
percentage;  the  average  for  the  year  is  10.54  per  cent.  Most  wrens  eat  spiders  more 
than  do  other  birds,  but  the  Carolina  wren  excels  them  all.  Millepeds,  or  thousand- 
legs,  are  eaten  sparingly  throughout  the  year  (2.06  per  cent)  and  none  were  taken  in 

January,  June,  or  September.  . 

Animals  other  than  insects,  as  sowbugs  and  snails,  were  found  m  a  few  stomachs, 

but  constitute  only  0.16  per  cent.  Vertebrate  animals  would  hardly  be  expected 
to  form  part  of  the  diet  of  so  small  a  bird,  but  the  Carolina  wren  eats  them  often. 
Remains  of  lizards  were  found  in  14  stomachs,  tree  frogs  in  8,  and  a  snake  in  1 ;  totaling 

'  The  treat  bulk  of  the  vegetable  food  of  the  Carolina  wren  consists  of  various  kinds 
of  seeds,  mostly  of  trees  or  shrubs.  Of  these,  bayberry  was  found  in  20  stomachs. 


12 


FARMERS  ’  BULLETIN  755. 


sweet  gum  in  10,  poison  ivy  in  7,  sumac  in  4,  pine  in  2,  smart  weed  and  other  weeds  in 
7  and  mast  (ground  up  acorn)  in  2.  Besides  these  a  few  stomachs  contained  pulp 
which  could  only  be  identified  as  fruit. 

From  this  analysis  of  the  food  of  the  Carolina  wren,  it  is  evident  that  the  farmer  and 
fruit  grower  have  not  the  slightest  cause  for  complaint  against  the  bird .  It  eats  neither 
cultivated  fruit  nor  grain,  and  does  not  even  nest  in  an  orchard  tree;  but  it  does 
feed  on  numerous  injurious 
insects  and  enlivens  the 
tangled  thickets  with  its 
cheerful  song  for  12  months 
in  the  year. — f.  e.  l.  b. 

MOCKINGBIRD.1 

The  mockingbird  (fig.  5) 
has  always  been  held  in 
«uch.  high  esteem  for  its 
vocal  powers  that  any  at¬ 
tempt  to’  add  to  its  reputa¬ 
tion  by  showing  that  its 
food  habits  also  are  in  its 
favor  may  seem  super¬ 
fluous.  The  title  of  the 
mockingbird  to  rank 
among  economic  bene¬ 
factors  has  not  heretofore 
been  quite  clear,  however, 
for,  though  it  does  consider- 
able  good  in  the  destruc¬ 
tion  of  harmful  insects,  it 
is  said  to  eat  much  fruit, 
and  where  fruit  raising  is  . 
an  important  industry,  as 
in  the  Southern  States, 
particularly  Texas  and 
Florida,  bitter  complaints 
are  made  against  it.  In 
Florida,  the  bird  is  charged 
with  attacking  grapes  and 
oranges,  and  in  Texas  it  is 
asserted  that  figs  must  be 
added  to  the  list  of  fruit  it 
damages. 

For  the  present  investi¬ 
gation  of  the  mockingbird ’s 
food  417  stomachs  were 
available,  and  these  dis-  Fig.  5. — Mockingbird.  Length,  about  10^  inches, 

closed  47.81  per  cent  ani¬ 
mal  matter  to  52.19  per  cent  vegetable.  This  is  more  than  twice  the  proportion  of 
animal  food  observed  in  mockingbirds  from  California.  Perhaps  the  abundant  fruit 
in  that  section  proves  too  great  an  attraction  for  the  birds  to  bother  with  insects. 
The  stomachs  of  southeastern  birds  examined  were  very  evenly  distributed  over 
every  month.  Most  of  the  animal  food  is  taken  in  May  (85.44  per  cent).  Vege¬ 
table  food  attains  its  maximum  in  December  and  January  (86.55  per  cent  each). 


1  Mimus  polyglottos. 


COMMON  BIRDS  OF  SOUTHEASTERN  UNITED  STATES. 


13 


The  important  items  in  the  animal  diet  are  beetles,  ants,  bees,  wasps,  grasshoppers 
caterpillars,  and  a  few  each  of  several  other  groups.  Useful  beetles,  mostly  predacious 
ground  beetles  (3.47  per  cent),  together  with  grasshoppers,  show  that  the  mockingbird 
must  gather  a  considerable  portion  of  its  food  upon  the  ground.  Harmful  beetles 
(7.38  per  cent)  are  of  sorts  mostly  found  on  leaves  of  trees,  bushes,  or  plants  which 
are  the  natural  habitat  of  the  mocker.  Many  of  these  were  weevils,  and  among  them 
were  nine  specimens  of  the  cotton  boll  weevil,  in  six  stomachs.  About  a  dozen 
stomachs  contained  remains  of  the  12-spotted  cucumber  beetle.  Many  other  species 
were  identified  which  are  nearly  as  harmful  but  not  so  well  known. 

Ants  (4.46  per  cent),  found  in  75  stomachs,  again  show  that  the  mockingbird  goes 
to  the  ground  for  at  least  a  portion  of  his  food.  Bees  and  wasps  (3  per  cent)  are  mostly 
good  flyers  and  must  either  be  taken  on  the  wing  or  picked  from  flowers,  and  it  is  in 
the  latter  situation  probably  that  the  mockingbird  gets  them. 

'  True  bugs  are  eaten  so  seldom  by  this  bird  that  the  item  would  not  be  worth  men¬ 
tioning  were  it  not  that  one  stomach  contained  remains  of  that  notorious  wheat  and 
corn  pest,  the  chinch  bug.  This  insect  has  probably  caused  more  loss  to  agriculture 
than  any  other  in  the  United  States.  Although  the  percentage  in  the  food  of  the 
mockingbird  is  insignificant,  any  bird  that  eats  this  pest  deserves  honorable  mention. 

Flies  are  apparently  merely  tasted  and  pronounced  not  good,  for  a  trace  of  them  is 
all  that  stomachs  show.  Grasshoppers,  on  the  contrary,  appear  to  be  the  favorite 
animal  food.  They  are  eaten  every  month  and  average  14.85  per  cent  for  the  year. 
In  July  they  rise  to  43.33  per  cent,  but  in  February  there  is  only  a  mere  trace.  All 
the  other  months  make  a  reasonable  showing.  Insects  of  this  group  captured  include 
true  grasshoppers,  locusts,  and  crickets,  all  harmful  and  some  very  much  so,  as,  for 
instance,  the  Rocky  Mountain  locust  or  grasshopper,  which  devastated  the  upper 
Mississippi  Valley  a  few  decades  ago. 

Caterpillars  (9.48  per  cent)  were  found  every  month  in  the  diet  of  the  mockingbird 
with  a  reasonable  percentage  in  all  except  October.  The  most  were  taken  in  August 
(23.89  per  cent),  though  nearly  as  many  were  eaten  in  May.  Among  a  host  of  others, 
all  more  or  less  harmful,  was  the  cotton  leaf  worm,  found  in  23  stomachs,  and  the  cotton 
bollworm,  in  2  stomachs.  This  latter  is  not  confined  to  the  South,  but  preys  upon 
corn,  tomatoes,  and  other  crops  all  through  the  central  and  northern  portions  of  the 
country.  A  few  insects  other  than  those  already  discussed  were  found,  but  the  per¬ 
centage  is  insignificant.  Spiders  were  eaten  sparingly  (less  than  2  per  cent)  in  every 
month  except  October.  A  few  millepeds,  crawfish,  sowbugs,  and  snails  also  were 
eaten,  but  the  most  singular  food  consisted  of  three  lizards  and  a  small  snake,  found  in 


four  stomachs. 

The  predominant  vegetable  food  of  the  mockingbird  is  wild  fruit.  This  is  eaten 
every  month  and  totals  42.58  per  cent  for  the  year,  or  more  than  four-fifths  of  the  vege¬ 
table  portion.  The  maximum  consumption  (76.91  per  cent),  occurs  in  October. 
Wild  fruit  was  found  in  246  stomachs,  and  76  contained  nothing  else.  Thirty- five 
species  of  fruit  were  identified,  and  it  is  probable  that  more  were  present  but  too  far 
digested  to  be  recognized.  Those  most  frequently  eaten  were  the  different  species  of 
holly  smilax,  woodbine,  blackberry,  pokeberry,  elderberry,  mulberry,  and  sour  gum. 

Domestic  fruit  (3.35  per  cent),  the  great  bulk  of  wdiich  was  either  raspberries  or 
blackberries,  was  found  in  stomachs  collected  from  May  to  August.  Both  of  these 
berries  grow  wild  in  great  abundance  over  most  of  the  country  and  those  eaten  by  the 
mockingbird  are  as  apt  to  be  taken  from  thickets  and  briar  patches  as  from  gardens. 
None  of  the  larger  fruits  were  certainly  determined,  but  figs  were  found  occasionally. 
A  few  grapes  were  identified,  but  these  may  as  well  have  been  wild  as  domestic.  1  he 
mockingbird  will  probably  do  little  harm  to  cultivated  fruits  so  long  as  wild  varieties 
are  accessible  and  abundant.  The  remaining  vegetable  food  was  of  no  great  impor- 
tance,  being  made  up  of  various  weed  seeds,  sumac  seeds  of  severa  species-including 
the  poisonous  (found  in  four  stomachs)— petals  of  flowers,  and  rubbish.  No  grai 

any  kind  was  found. 


14 


farmers'  BULLETIN  755. 


There  appears  to  be  nothing  to  prove  that  the  mockingbird  eats  domestic  fruits  to 
an  injurious  extent.  It  has  in  general  enjoyed  about  the  same  place  in  the  affections 
of  the  southern  people  that  is  held  by  the  robin  in  the  North,  and  judging  by  the  results 
of  this  investigation  it  well  deserves  the  place. — f.  e.  l.  b. 

BROWN  THRASHER.1 

Few  birds  excel  the  brown  thrasher  in  sweetness  of  song,  but  it  is  so  shy  that  its  notea 
are  not  heard  often  enough  to  be  appreciated.  Its  favorite  time  for  singing  is  in  early 
morning,  when,  perched  on  the  top  of  some  tall  bush  or  low  tree,  it  gives  an  exhibition 
of  vocal  powers  which  would  do  credit  to  a  mockingbird.  Indeed  where  the  latter 
bird  is  abundant,  the  thrasher  is  sometimes  known  as  the  sandy  mocker. 

The  brown  thrasher  (fig.  6)  breeds  throughout  the  United  States  east  of  the  Great 
Plains,  and  winters  in  the  South  Atlantic  and  Gulf  States.  It  occasionally  visits  the 
garden  or  orchard,  but  nests  in  swamps  or  in  groves  standing  upon  low  ground,  and 
sometimes  builds  in  a  pile  of  brush  at  a  distance  from  trees.  On  account  of  its  more 
retiring  habits 
it  is  not  so  con¬ 
spicuous  as  the 
robin,  though  it 
may  be  equally 
abundant. 

The  food  of  the 
thrasher  consists 
of  both  fruit  and 
insects.  An  ex- 
ami  nation  of 
266  stomachs 
showed  37.38  per 
cent  animal 
and  62.62  per 
cent  vegetable 
food,  the  former 
practically  all 
insects. 

The  most  no¬ 
ticeable  pecu- 

liarity  in  the  food  is  that  no  one  item  is  greatly  in  excess  of  others,  while  in  the  case  of 
the  yellow-billed  cuckoo,  for  instance,  caterpillars  constitute  more  than  half  the  food. 
With  the  thrasher  the  largest  item  is  made  up  of  beetles  (18.14  per  cent).  A  few  of 
these  (4.82  per  cent)  are  of  useful  species,  mostly  predacious  ground  beetles.  Others 
(13.32  per  cent)  are  of  a  more  or  less  harmful  character,  the  great  bulk  being  May 
beetles  and  weevils,  or  snout  beetles.  Among  the  latter  is  the  notorious  cotton  boll 
weevil,  found  in  six  stomachs.  May  beetles,  when  in  the  grub  stage,  injure  roots  of 
grass  and  other  plants.  The  12-spotted  cucumber  beetle,  another  destructive  pest, 
also  was  found  in  many  stomachs.  Beetles  are  eaten  regularly  throughout  the  year, 
although  a  little  more  from  March  to  June  than  in  other  months. 

Ants  form  a  surprisingly  small  percentage  of  the  yearly  food  (1.38  per  cent)  when  the 
fact  is  considered  that  the  thrasher  gets  most  of  its  food  upon  the  ground,  where  most 
ants  li\  e.  The  small  destruction  of  bees  and  wasps  (0.93  per  cent)  is  not  surprising, 
as  the  thrasher  is  hardly  agile  enough  on  the  wing  to  catch  such  swift  fliers.  These 
thiee  insects,  however,  are  very  evenly  distributed  throughout  the  year,  each  month 
shov  ing  a  small  percentage.  Bugs,  mostly  stinkbugs  with  a  few  negro  bugs,  make  up 


1  Toxostoma  rufum. 


COMMON  BIRDS  OF  SOUTHEASTERN  UNITED  STATES. 


15 


1 .54  per  cent  and  are  very  regularly  distributed .  One  bird  taken  in  Illinois  had  eaten 
chinch  bugs,  but  none  were  found  in  stomachs  from  farther  south.  Flies  (1.76  per 
cent)  are  evidently  not  a  favorite  food  of  the  thrasher,  and  nearly  all  of  those  eaten 
were  taken  in  November.  One  stomach  secured  that  month  in  a  Mississippi  cotton 
field  was  filled  with  flies  except  6  per  cent  of  fruit  of  “ French  mulberries”;  the  bird 
had  probably  found  a  colony  of  flies  hibernating  in  a  crevice  and  had  devoured  the 
whole  lot. 

Caterpillars  (5.95  per  cent)  stand  next  to  beetles  in  the  thrasher’s  food,  and  are 
taken  every  month  except  November;  that  month,  however,  is  represented  by  only 
five  stomachs.  Grasshoppers  and  crickets  would  seem  to  be  very  available  to  the 
thrasher,  as  the  insects  live  on  the  ground,  where  also  the  birds  get  their  food;  but, 
unlike  the  meadowlark,  these  birds  do  not  esteem  grasshopper  diet  enough  to  go  out 
in  the  sunshine  to  seek  it.  This  food  (2.43  per  cent  for  the  year)  is  taken  to  some 
extent  every  month,  the  maximum  (8.5  per  cent)  in  September. 

A  few  insects  of  other  groups  are  picked  up  occasionally.  In  all  they  amount  to 
only  one-fourth  of  1  per  cent.  Spiders  (0.58  per  cent)  are  eaten  now  and  then,  and 
myriapods  (thousand-legs)  to  a  somewhat  greater  extent  (2.24  per  cent),  but  very 
irregularly,  the  maximum  (8  per  cent)  in  January.  A  few  miscellaneous  animals, 
like  crawfish,  sowbugs,  snails,  and  angle  worms,  make  up  1.26  per  cent.  Bones  of 
lizards,  salamanders,  and  tree  frogs  (in  all,  0.92  per  cent)  were  found  in  11  stomachs. 

Of  the  insects  eaten  by  the  brown  thrasher  there  is  only  one  class  to  which  excep¬ 
tion  can  be  taken — the  predacious  beetles.  That  these  insects  render  some  service 
to  man  is  beyond  reasonable  doubt,  though  some  of  them  also  do  injury.  Their  de¬ 
struction,  then,  is  not  an  unmixed  harm,  but  in  any  case  the  more  numerous  noxious 
insects  eaten  by  the  thrasher  more  than  compensate  for  the  useful  beetles  incidentally 
destroyed . 

The  vegetable  food  of  this  bird  is  nearly  equally  divided  between  fruit  and  a  number 
of  other  substances,  of  which  mast  is  the  most  prominent.  Wild  fruit,  the  largest  item 
in  the  vegetable  portion  (19.94  per  cent),  was  eaten  every  month  in  varying  quanti¬ 
ties,  the  month  of  maximum  consumption  (45.69  per  cent)  being  September;  January 
and  February,  with  dried-up  fruit  from  the  last  summer’s  crop,  stand  next.  Alto¬ 
gether  about  30  species  of  wild  fruits  or  berries  were  identified  in  the  stomachs.  Those 
most  eaten  are  blueberries,  huckleberries,  holly  berries,  elderberries,  pokeberries, 
hackberries,  Virginia  creeper,  and  sour  gum.  Some  seeds  not  properly  classified  as 
“fruit  ”  were  found,  as  bayberry,  sumac — including  some  of  the  poisonous  species- 
pine,  and  sweet  gum.  Seeds  formed  3.97  per  cent  of  the  yearly  food. 

Domestic  fruit,  or  what  was  called  such,  was  found  in  nine  months,  from  April  to 
the  end  of  the  year,  most  of  it  (53.19  per  cent)  in  July.  Raspberries  or  blackberries, 
currants,  grapes,  cherries,  and  strawberries  were  positively  identified  by  their  seeds, 
but  as  all  of  these  grow  wild,  it  is  probable  that  much  that  is  conventionally  termed 
domestic  fruit  is  really  from  uncultivated  plants.  The  aggregate  for  the  year  is  12.42 
per  cent.  Most  unexpected  in  the  thrasher’s  diet  was  mast,  principally  acorns, 
although  some  of  it  was  so  finely  ground  up  that  it  was  not  possible  to  tell  its  exact 
nature*  It  is  also  somewhat  a  matter  of  doubt  as  to  just  where  to  draw  a  dividing 
line  between  mast  and  seeds,  so  that  the  proportion  of  each  is  somewhat  uncertain.  In 
the  case  in  hand  the  total  for  the  year  is  estimated  at  23.72  per  cent.  Mast  was  eaten 
every  month  except  August,  but  mostly  in  fall  and  winter— November,  the  month 
when  acorns  are  abundant  and  fresh,  showing  the  greatest  quantity  (5/  .4  per  cent ). 

Grain  (2 .57  per  cent)  was  found  in  the  stomachs  for  six  months,  but  m  only  February , 
March,  and  May  were  there  noteworthy  percentages.  March  shows  12.37  per  cent, 
the  other  two  slightly  less.  The  grain  was  nearly  all  corn,  with  a  little  wheat,  but  from 

the  season  in  which  it  was  taken  most  of  it  evidently  was  waste. 

The  farmer  has  nothing  to  fear  from  depredations  on  fruit  or  grain  by  Tie  brown 
thrasher.  The  bird  is  a  resident  of  groves  and  swamps  rather  than  ot  oichards  and 


20  FARMERS 9  BULLETIN  755. 

gardens,  so  that  it  comes  but  little  into  contact  with  the  products  of  husbandry,  and 
does  not  prey  upon  them  extensively  when  it  does.  The  useful  insects  that  it  eats 
are  amply  paid  for  by  its  destruction  of  noxious  ones.— f.  e.  l.  b. 


CARDINAL.1 


Vivacity,  beauty,  and  vocal  expertness  are  three  outstanding  traits  of  the  cardinal, 
or  redbird  (fig.  7).  Whether  the  eye  is  held  by  the  vivid  color  that  suggested  the 

bird’s  name,  or  by  the 
active,  graceful  move¬ 
ments,  the  raising  and 
lowering  of  the  crest, 
which  when  fully  erect 
gives  the  bird  an  appear¬ 
ance  of  such  keen  atten¬ 
tion,  or  whether  the  ear 
is  charmed  by  the  rich 
and  varied  song,  the  im¬ 
pression  produced  is  one 
of  extreme  pleasure. 

Though  somewhat  shy, 
the  cardinal  does  not  en¬ 
tirely  avoid  the  vicinity 
of  homes.  However,  it 
prefers  more  secluded  re¬ 
sorts.  Shrubbery  is  its 
chosen  haunt,  the  more 
tangled  the  better.  Here 
the  nest  is  built  and  the 
young  reared,  and  here 
they  spend  most  of  their 
days.  Higher  trees  are 
usually  sought  only  under 
the  inspiration  of  song. 

Viewed  from  the  eco¬ 
nomic  standpoint  the  car¬ 
dinal  deserves  favorable 
comment,  as  it  does  for 
its  other  high  qualities. 

Its  food  is  composed  of 
about  29  per  cent  animal 
matter  and  71  per  cent 
vegetable.  Among  the 
insects  eaten  are  a  few 
that  are  beneficial,  but  at 
most  not  more  than  2  per 
cent  of  the  cardinal’s 
food,  probably  less,  con-  Fig.  7.— Cardinal.  Length,  about  81  inches. 

sists  of  useful  insects, 

while  twelve  times  as  much  is  made  up  of  injurious  species.  Caterpillars  are  greatly 
relished,  and  among  those  discovered  in  the  food  were  three  pests  of  the  cotton  crop, 
namely,  the  cotton  worm,  the  bollworm,  and  the  cotton  cutworm.  Ninety-six  of  the 
last-named  species  were  eaten  by  31  cardinals  from  Texas  cotton  fields.  Other 
caterpillar  pests  eaten  are  the  purslane  sphinx,  zebra  caterpillar,  and  codling  moth. 


J  Cardrnalis  cardinalis. 


COMMON  BIRDS  OF  SOUTHEASTERN  UNITED  STATES. 


17 


Grasshoppers,  together  with  true  bugs,  form  more  than  one-tenth  of  the  total  food. 
These  groups  of  insects  comprise  many  injurious  forms  of  which  the  cardinal  takes  due 
toll.  Especially  commendable  is  the  destruction  of  scale  insects,  of  which  several 
different  species  were  identified  from  the  stomachs  of  21  redbirds. 

Beetles  comprise  more  than  a  tenth  of  the  whole  diet.  Among  them,  weevils  are 
predominant.  The  acorn  weevils,  clover  weevils,  and  billbugs,  all  injurious  forms, 
are  freely  eaten,  and  the  cotton  boll  weevil  occasionally.  Vine  chafers  of  various  spe¬ 
cies,  the  southern  fig  eater,  and  rose  chafers  are  among  other  injurious  beetles  destroyed. 
Click  beetles,  cucumber  beetles,  strawberry  root  borers,  plum  and  locust  leaf  beetles 
also  are  devoured  by  the  cardinal.  The  bird  has  a  record  for  feeding  on  many  of  the 
worst  agricultural  pests. 

The  vegetable  food  consists  chiefly  of  weed  seeds,  but  wild  fruit  and  grain  also  are 
eaten  to  some  extent.  The  grain,  however,  is  largely  waste,  as  it  is  taken  only  in  win¬ 
ter.  Wild  fruit,  or  rather  the  seeds  of  wild  fruit  which  usually  are  extracted  and  the 
pulp  rejected  by  the  redbird,  composes  about  one-fourth  of  the  total  subsistence. 
Wild  grape  seeds  are  favorites,  but  those  of  dogwoods,  blackberries,  hackberries, 
smilax,  cherries,  blueberries,  elderberries,  pokeberries,  and  juneberries,  and  the  fruit 
of  prickly  pear,  sumac,  holly,  redhaw,  passion  flower,  Mexican  mulberry,  and  palmettos 
also  are  eaten.  Little,  if  any,  attention  is  paid  to  cultivated  fruits. 

Most  important  among  the  items  of  vegetable  food  is  weed  seed.  This  forms  more 
than  a  third  of  the  total  food.  Seeds  of  smartweeds  and  bindweeds  rank  first  in  prefer¬ 
ence,  and  the  seeds  of  the  following  troublesome  weeds  are  freely  eaten:  Foxtail,  bur, 
cockspur,  crab  and  yard  grasses,  dodder,  dock,  sow  thistle,  plantain,  tumbleweed, 
nail  grass,  lamb’s-quarters,  chickweed,  sticktight,  partridge  pea,  and  buttonweed. 
The  redbird  occupies  an  important  place  among  birds  devouring  weed  seeds.— w.  l.  m. 

GRAY  GROSBEAK.1 


The  gray  grosbeak,  or  parrot-bill,  is  about  the  same  size  as  the  cardinal,  closely 
resembles  that  bird  in  song  and  general  demeanor,  and  has  similar  nesting  habits. 
Moreover,  it  frequents  the  same  kind  of  country  and  is  resident  wherever  found.  In 
appearance,  however,  it  is  quite  dissimilar. 

In  strong  contrast  to  the  glowing  hue  of  the  cardinal  the  general  color  of  both  sexes 
of  the  parrot-bill  is  light  gray.  The  wings,  tail,  and  long  crest  are  suffused  with  dark 
red  and  the  wings  are  lined  with  rose.  This  color  also  surrounds  the  beak  of  the  male 
and  extends  over  throat  and  breast  in  an  irregular  patch.  The  beak  is  yellowish  and 
is  very  curiously  modified,  being  short,  thick,  strongly  curved,  and  apparently  of 

great  power. 

The  gray  grosbeak  comes  into  the  lower  half  of  Texas,  not  reaching,  however,  the 
extreme  eastern  part  of  the  State. 

Seventy-four  stomachs  of  gray  grosbeaks  from  Texas  have  been  examined,  59  col¬ 
lected  in  August  and  15  in  September.  Vegetable  matter  averages  71.19  per  cent  of 

the  contents  and  animal  matter  28.81  pei  cent. 

Grass  seeds  constitute  an  average  of  53.09  per  cent  of  the  total  food  of  the  birds  exam¬ 
ined  or  more  than  five-sevenths  of  the  vegetable  food  alone.  Most  important  among 
them  are  foxtail  and  bur  grass,  which  together  amount  to  43.59  per  cent  of  the  food. 
Since  these  grasses  are  among  the  most  pernicious  of  weeds,  the  parrot-bill  is  moie  . 
welcome  to  all  their  seeds  it  desires. 

The  seeds  of  other  grasses  eaten  are  important,  furnishing  9.51  per  cent  of  the  bird  a 
subsistence  Among  these  are  witch  and  crab  grasses,  most  species  of  which  are  weeds, 
and  yTrd  or  wire  grls.  Seeds  of  a  spurge  contribute  9.81  per  cent  of  this  grosbeak  s 
fare,  and  other  weeds,  including  bindweed,  lamb’s-quarters,  tumbleweed,  sunflower, 
carpetweed,  nightshade,  vervain,  and  mallow  compose  6.13  per  cent. _ 


33782°— 23— Bull.  755- 


i  Pyrrhuloxia  sinuata  texana. 

- 3 


18 


FARMERS 9  BULLETIN  755. 


While  the  parrot-bill  consumes  a  smaller  proportion  of  animal  matter  than  the  cardi¬ 
nal,  it  selects  about  the  same  things,  the  principal  items  being  grasshoppers,  cater¬ 
pillars,  and  beetles.  Neither  parasitic  hymenopterans  nor  predacious  beetles  were 
found  in  the  stomachs  examined,  ashowing  much  to  the  bird  s  credit.  Only  one  useful 
insect  had  been  eaten,  it  belonging  to  a  queer  neurOpteroid  genus,  the  members 
which  are  rare.  They  are  predacious  when  adult,  and  when  young  are  parasitic  in  the 
egg  sacs  of  spiders. 

The  remaining  animal  food  is  composed  of  injurious  species,  many  of  them  important 
pests.  Beetles  constitute  4.66  per  cent  of  the  food,  weevils  alone  being  3.42.  Of 
greatest  interest  among  the  latter  is  the  cotton  boll  weevil,  the  most  serious  agricultural 
pest  of  recent  years.  While  the  gray  grosbeak  does  not  feed  upon  it  regularly,  never¬ 
theless  the  habit  of  picking  it  up  when  occasion  offers  is  highly  commendable.  Leaf 
beetles,  bronzy  wood  borers,  and  long-horned  beetles,  all  of  which  are  destructive  to 
forest  and  orchard  trees,  also  were  found  in  stomachs  of  this  species 

Beetles,  as  a  whole,  are  exceeded  in  the  food  of  this  bird  by  caterpillars,  the 
latter  constituting  10.32  per  cent  of  the  diet.  One  of  the  species  identified — the  cotton 
worm — has  long  been  known  as  a  great  pest  throughout  the  Southern  States,  and  in 
certain  years  has  caused  a  decrease  in  the  crop  of  a  quarter  of  a  million  bales,  valued 
at  $25,000,000.  Fourteen  of  the  74  gray  grosbeaks  examined  consumed  cotton  worms, 
which  averaged  39.1  per  cent  of  their  food.  As  many  as  18  caterpillars  were  found 
in  a  single  stomach.  Another  caterpillar  enemy  of  the  same  crop — the  cotton  cut¬ 
worm — also  is  freely  devoured. 

As  beetles  are  less  esteemed  than  caterpillars  by  the  gray  grosbeak,  so  also  are  the 
latter  less  liked  than  orthopterous  insects.  This  group  contributes  11.52  per  cent 
of  the  total  food,  and  includes  both  long  and  short-horned  locusts  and  their  eggs, 
7  or  8  grasshoppers  sometimes  being  secured  by  a  single  bird.  True  bugs,  comprising 
stinkbugs  and  their  eggs,  cicadas,  leafhoppers,  and  lantern  flies  come  to  about  1.5 
per  cent.  All  these  insects  are  injurious  and  the  bird  does  a  service  by  feeding  upon 
them. 

One  parrot-bill  was  bold  enough  to  swallow  a  large  hornet.  A  few  ants  also  were 
eaten,  and  these,  together  with  spiders  and  snails,  complete  the  list  of  animal  food 
taken.  Although  this  grosbeak  is  not  conspicuously  insectivorous,  almost  all  the 
insects  it  eats  are  injurious. 

The  data  at  hand  are  insufficient  to  determine  finally  the  exact  economic  status 
of  the  bird,  but  it  may  be  stated  with  confidence  that  the  gray  grosbeak  is  almost 
entirely  beneficial. — w.  l.  m. 

PAINTED  BUNTING.1 

The  male  painted  bunting  (fig.  8)  is  one  of  the  most  brilliantly  colored  birds  of  the 
United  States.  The  upper  part  of  the  head  and  neck  are  shining  purplish  violet,  the 
middle  of  the  back  yellowish  green,  wings  and  tail  purplish  blue,  and  underparts  and 
rump  vermilion.  The  female  is  dark  green  above  and  yellowish  beneath. 

This  little  jewel  has  not  failed  to  attract  popular  attention  and  in  consequence 
has  received  a  variety  of  common  names.  In  Louisiana  the  French  speaking  people 
have  called  it  nonpareil  (unequaled),  and  le  pape  (the  pope).  The  last  name  has  been 
contracted  to  pop  and  varied  as  red  pop.  Spanish  speaking  citizens  know  the  bird 
as  mariposa  (butterfly),  and  in  English  the  bird  has  variously  been  named  painted 
bunting  or  finch,  paradise  finch,  Mexican  canary,  and  Texas  canary. 

The  painted  bunting  is  not  only  distinguished  in  appearance,  but  also  is  one  of  the 
most  pleasing  songsters  among  the  finches.  It  is  a  persistent  vocalist,  and  this  char¬ 
acteristic,  in  addition  to  its  beauty  and  activity,  makes  it  a  most  desirable  species 
for  the  vicinity  of  homes.  Fortunately  the  bird  is  not  averse  to  proximity  to  man, 


1  Passerina  ciris. 


COMMON  BIRDS  OF  SOUTHEASTERN  UNITED  STATES. 


19 


and  its  preference  for  shrubbery  further  adapts  it  to  living  about  dooryards  and  gardens. 
The  nest,  though  usually  placed  low,  is  well  concealed,  and  the  eggs  number  three 
to  five. 

Few  complaints  have  been  lodged  against  the  painted  bunting  on  the  score  of  its 
food  habits.  It  is  said  to  eat  rice  at  times,  to  peck  into  figs  and  grapes,  and  to  bite  off 
the  tips  of  pecan  shoots.  In  no  case  that  has  come  to  notice,  however,  has  it  been 
charged  with  doing  serious  damage.  Certainly  no  such  charge  is  supported  by  the 
investigations  of  the  Biological  Survey,  for  no  product  of  husbandry  has  thus  far  been 
found  in  any  of  the  stomachs,  80  of  which  have  been  examined,  all  collected  in  Texas 
in  July,  August,  and  September.  Averages  for  the  July  and  August  material  only 
are  here  presented.  Animal  matter  composed  20.86  per  cent  of  the  contents  of 

these  stomachs,  and  vege¬ 
table  matter  79.14  per  cent. 
Of  the  former,  2.48  per 
cent  was  made  up  of 
weevils,  mostly  cotton  boll 
weevils.  All  insects  of  this 
group  are  destructive,  but 
none  more  so  than  the  no¬ 
torious  cotton  boll  weevil, 
and  this  species  had  been 
eaten  by  18  of  the  80  non¬ 
pareils  examined. 

Another  enemy  of  the 
cotton  crop  attacked  by 
these  brightly  colored  little 
birds  is  the  cotton  worm. 
This  insect  was  preyed 
upon  to  the  extent  of  3.14 
per  cent  of  the  total  food 
of  the  80  painted  buntings 
examined.  Other  insects 
eaten  include  grasshoppers, 
crickets,  click  beetles,  leaf 
beetles,  caterpillars,  true 
bugs,  and  small  hymen- 
opterans.  A  few  spiders 
and  one  snail  also  were 
taken. 

The  vegetable  food  is  re¬ 
markable  in  consisting  very 
largely  of  a  single  item — 


Fig.  8. — Painted  bunting.  Length,  about  5 £  inches. 


the  seeds  of  foxtail  or  pigeon 
grass.  This  is  one  of  the 
worst  weeds  in  the  United 

States  The  80  painted  buntings  made  over  two-thirds  (precisely  67  03  per  cent) 
o{  their  total  food  of  its  seeds.  The  seeds  of  other  grasses  composed  5.88  per  cent  of 
the  food,  grasses  alone  thus  furnishing  over  nine-tenths  of  the  vegetable  portion. 
The  other  vegetable  matter  eaten  consists  largely  of  seeds  of  such  weeds  as  amaran  , 
mallow,  sorrel,  and  nail  grass.  , 

Tosumup,  practically  all  of  the  vegetable  foodof  t  he  painted  bunting  is  of  weedseed^ 
two- thirds  of  it  being  the  seeds  of  foxtail  grass,  one  of  the  worst  weed  pests.  Thean  m. 
food  also  is  composed  almost  exclusively  of  injurious  species,  more  than  a  fourth  of 
consisting  of  tho  two  greatest  pests  of  the  cotton  crop-the  cotton  worm  and  the  boll 


weevil. — w.  l.  m. 


20 


FARMERS  ’  BULLETIN  155. 


COMMON  CROW.1 

Though  not  possessing  the  proverbially  bad  reputation  of  its  kin  of  the  Northern 
States,  the  crow  (fig.  9)  of  the  South  is  well  known  in  a  large  part  of  the  area  of  which 
this  bulletin  treats.  Throughout  the  coastal  region  east  of  Texas  it  is  intimately 
associated  with  its  maritime  relative,  the  fish  crow,2  anti  in  winter  these  two  have  much 
the  same  food  habits. 

The  series  of  108  stomachs  available  for  examination,  while  too  few  to  show  accu¬ 
rately  the  food  habits  of  the  crow  over  so  large  an  area,  has  verified  much  of  the  infor¬ 
mation  gained  from  field  observation.  The  food  of  the  crow  of  the  South  is  much  like 
that  of  its  northern  relative,  such  differences  as  are  observed  being  due  to  the  relative 
abundance  of  certain  food  items  in  the  two  areas.  The  southern  crow  has  many  of  the 
virtues  of  the  northern  bird,  and,  so  far  as  the  evidence  at  hand  shows,  certain 
corvine  failings,  as  nest  robbing  and  injuring  sprouting  corn,  seem  less  pronounced. 

Examination  of  stomachs  revealed  31  per  cent  animal  food  and  69  per  cent  vegetable. 
Insects  comprised  a  little  less  than  a  fifth  of  the  yearly  sustenance,  and  were  made  up 
of  many  of  the  common  pests,  as  May  beetles  and  their  larvae  (white  grubs),  which 
were  eaten  in 
every  mont  h 
save  two;  wee¬ 
vils  of  several 
kinds ;  grasshop¬ 
pers  (nearly  5 
per  cent) ;  and 
several  species 
of  caterpillars. 

Such  beneficial 
insects  as  preda¬ 
cious  ground 
beetles  and  bugs 
and  parasitic 
hymenopt  era  n  s 
formed  less  than 
2  per  cent. 

Crustaceans, 
by  far  the 
largest  part  of 
which  were 

crawfish,  constituted  an  important  food  item  (7.4  per  cent).  These  creatures  in  some 
sections  of  the  South  are  the  cause  of  considerable  damage,  especially  to  corn  and  cot¬ 
ton.  A  few  mollusks,  amphibians,  and  fish  (about  4  per  cent)  indicate  the  aquatic 
feeding  habits  of  these  birds.  Fragments  of  the  shell  of  a  hen’s  egg  found  in  one 
stomach  supply  the  only  evidence  of  that  objectionable  trait  of  which  the  northern 
crow  is  so  frequently  accused.  No  remains  of  wild  birds  or  their  eggs  were  found. 

In  the  vegetable  food,  corn  and  wild  fruits  stand  out  prominently.  The  former 
constituted  about  a  fourth  of  the  yearly  subsistence,  but  a  large  portion  was  taken  in 
winter  when  it  must  have  been  secured  from  outstanding  shocks  or  picked  up  as  waste. 
Such  wild  fruits  as  sour  gum,  poisonous  and  nonpoisonous  sumacs,  pokeberry,  black¬ 
berries,  greenbrier,  and  the  like  composed  nearly  a  third  of  the  food,  and  were  so 
prominent  probably  because  of  the  great  abundance  of  many  of  these  plants  through¬ 
out  the  South.  Grain,  other  than  corn,  and  a  little  cultivated  fruit  also  were  taken. 

Field  observation  has  shown  that  certain  other  items  not  revealed  by  laboratory 
examination  enter  into  the  diet  of  the  southern  crow.  Watermelons  are  frequently 


1  Corvus  brachyrhynchos . 


2  Corvus  oss  if  rag  us. 


COMMON  BIRDS  OF  SOUTHEASTERN  UNITED  STATES. 


21 


damaged,  and  small  gardens  have  suffered  losses  in  peas,  strawberries,  and  peanuts. 
Growers  of  pecans  also  have  entered  complaints  against  the  crow.  In  many  sections 
the  bird  has  been  credited  with  being  a  most  potent  disseminator  of  live-stock  diseases, 
especially  hog  cholera.  While  he  may  be  one  of  many  distributors  of  these  diseases, 
ultimate  remedies  depend  upon  close  attention  to  sanitation  and  quarantine  rather 
than  the  destruction  of  all  possible  carriers.  As  a  carrion  eater,  the  crow  renders  the 
farmer  an  important  service,  especially  in  the  South. 

In  view  of  the  fact  that  corn  pulling  may  be  largely  prevented  by  the  use  of  deter¬ 
rents,  as  coal  tar  upon  the  seed;  that  loosely  made  corn  shocks,  left  standing  long  after 
the  corn  should  have  been  properly  stored,  are  a  constant  attraction  for  these  birds; 
that  damage  to  poultry  and  their  eggs  may  be  largely  obviated  by  the  proper  housing 
of  nesting  fowls  and  the  screening  of  chicks;  and  that  much  can  be  accomplished  by 
scarecrows  and  other  frightening  devices,  it  appears  that  the  legislation  regarding  the 
crow  at  present  in  force  in  the  Southern  States  is  satisfactory.  Absolute  protection  is 
not  afforded  in  any  of  these  States.  This  allows  the  crow  to  be  held  in  check  when 
doing  damage,  yet  the  absence  of  extensive  campaigns  of  destruction  permits  it  to 


continue  unmo¬ 
lested,  in  large 
measure,  its  good 
work  in  the  de¬ 
struction  of  insect 
pests  in  spring  and 
summer. — e.  r.  k. 


BLUE  JAY.1 


In  the  Southern 
States  the  blue  jay 
(fig.  10),  or  “jay¬ 


bird  ”  as  he  is  more 
familiarly  known, 
is  a  resident  the 
year  round ,  and  in 
winter  his  num¬ 
bers  are  swelled 
by  migrants. 
Stomach  exami- 


Fig.  10.— Blue  jay.  Length,  about  Ilf  inches. 


nation  shows  that  he  possesses  essentially  the  same  food  habits  as  his  relatives  in  the 
North,  while  such  differences  as  do  occur  are  somewhat  in  favor  of  the  southern  bird. 
Complaints  from  agriculturists  and  sportsmen  appear  to  be  less  frequent  and  severe 
in  this  area,  while  bird  lovers  have  had  less  to  say  regarding  the  jay’s  habit  of  nest 
robbing,  though  this  maybe  in  part  due  to  the  fact  that  the  movement  to  foster  small 
insectivorous  and  game  birds  has  not  attracted  so  much  attention  here  as  in  some 

sections  farther  north. 

Examination  of  184  stomachs  indicates  that  animal  food  forms  31.9  per  cent  and 


i  Cyanocitta  cristata. 


22 


FARMERS  ’  BULLETIN  755. 


Important  elements  include  both  the  flat-headed  and  round-headed  wood  borers,  as 
well  as  numerous  weevils,  those  feeding  on  pine  predominating.  Beneficial  insects, 
including  predacious  ground  beetles  and  bugs,  and  parasitic  hymenopterans  comprise 
about  9  per  cent  of  the  yearly  food.  The  jay’s  liking  for  snails,  which  furnish  an 
ample  supply  of  animal  matter  at  times  when  insects  are  scarce,  appears  to  be  akin  to 
the  southern  crow’s  preference  for  crawfish.  A  few  batrachians  (toads  and  frogs), 
lizards,  and  even  fish  help  out  when  hunting  is  not  at  its  best.  Of  the  184  stomachs 
examined  only  one  contained  the  egg  of  a  small  bird;  shells  of  hen’s  eggs  occurred  in 
13  of  these,  but  as  the  jay  is  given  to  rummaging  about  rubbish  piles,  the  source  of 
some  of  this  material  may  be  thus  explained. 

A  consideration  of  its  vegetable  food  discloses  evidence  unfavorable  to  the  southern 
blue  jay.  Of  cultivated  fruit  and  corn  he  takes  considerably  less  than  the  northern 
bird,  but  on  the  latter  food  he  lays  heavy  toll  just  at  the  time  when  the  grain  is  in 
the  roasting  ear  and  ripening.  In  fact,  in  August,  corn  closely  associated  with  the 
silk  torn  from  the  top  of  the  ear  was  found  in  11  of  15  stomachs,  forming  over  58  per 
cent  of  the  monthly  food.  This  item  was  also  well  represented  in  stomachs  collected 
in  July  and  September.  But  by  far  the  most  popular  article  of  diet  of  the  southern 


Fig.  11. — Meadowlark.  Length,  about  10f  inches. 

jay  is  mast,  which  composes  nearly  46  per  cent  of  the  yearly  food,  and  in  January, 
when  other  food  is  scarce,  runs  as  high  as  84  per  cent.  Complaints  against  the  bird 
on  this  score  are  few  as  yet,  but  this  liking  for  mast  may  lead  it  into  trouble  with 
growers  of  cultivated  nuts — pecans,  for  instance. 

While  there  may  be  possibilities  of  the  southern  jay  becoming  troublesome  locally, 
at  present  it  can  not  be  considered  a  serious  menace  to  agriculture.  Its  insect  diet 
during  spring  and  summer,  which  includes  many  destructive  species,  more  than 
compensates  for  the  losses  inflicted  upon  cornfields  later  in  the  season,  or  upon 
isolated  orchards  of  cultivated  nuts. — e.  r.  k. 

MEADOWLARK.1 

The  meadowlark  (fig.  11)  is  a  familiar  bird  of  grassland  throughout  the  Eastern 
States.2  Alike  on  meadows  and  savannas,  its  clear  pipe  may  be  heard  in  spring 

1  Sturnella  magna. 

2  In  the  West  a  closely  related  form  ( Sturnella  neglecta )  has  food  habits  very  similar  to  those  of  the 
eastern  bird. 


COMMON  BIRDS  OF  SOUTHEASTERN  UNITED  STATES.  23 

announcing  the  return  of  the  season  of  procreation  and  growth.  For  its  home  it 
chooses  level,  slightly  undulating  land  free  from  trees,  and,  if  possible,  with  a 
8UPPly  °f  water  near  at  hand,  for  the  meadowlark  delights  in  a  clear  running  brook 
for  drinking  and  bathing.  Its  nest  is  built  on  the  ground  among  the  dead  herbage 
of  the  last  year’s  growth,  is  usually  overarched  to  protect  the  eggs  and  the  sitting 
bird  from  the  weather,  and  is  often  so  completely  buried  from  sight  as  to  defy  detection 
by  the  most  skillful  searcher.  The  bird’s  preference  for  unmown  fields  covered  with 
what  farmers  call  “old  fog”  has  given  rise  to  the  name  of  “old-field  lark,”  by  which 
it  is  known  in  many  places. 

The  great  bulk  of  the  species  is  migratory  from  the  Northern  States,  but  from  the 
latitude  of  Pennsylvania  southward  the  bird  is  found  throughout  the  winter,  its  num¬ 
bers  somewhat  increasing  farther  south. 

In  the  laboratory  investigation  890  stomachs  were  examined,  representing  all  the 
Southeastern  States,  and  every  month  of  the  year.  Analysis  of  the  contents  showed 
animal  food,  chiefly  insects,  78.12  per  cent;  and  vegetable,  21.88  per  cent. 

As  illustrating  this  bird’s  vigilance  in  its  search  for  insects,  an  instructive  lesson 
may  be  drawn  from  the  food  of  a  group  of  six  birds  taken  when  the  ground  was  cov¬ 
ered  with  snow.  The  stomach  having  the  least  insect  food  contained  8  per  cent;  that 
with  the  most  had  95  per  cent;  and  the  average  for  the  six  was  over  47  per  cent,  or 
nearly  half  the  total  food.  The  insects  consisted  of  beetles  of  several  species,  true 
bugs,  grasshoppers,  crickets,  a  few  wasps,  caterpillars,  spiders,  and  myriapods.  It 
thus  seems  evident  that  insects  are  essential  to  the  diet  of  this  bird  and  that  great 
efforts  are  made  to  obtain  them  even  under  very  adverse  circumstances. 

Of  the  insect  food  of  the  890  birds,  by  far  the  most  important  elements  were  grass¬ 
hoppers,  long-horned  or  green  grasshoppers,  and  crickets  (27  per  cent).  In  January 
they  form  more  than  9  per  cent  of  the  total  food,  and  increase  rapidly  until  October, 
when  they  reach  the  surprising  total  of  56  per  cent.  During  the  succeeding  months 
they  decrease  slowly,  and  in  November  still  constitute  40  per  cent.  It  is  extremely 
doubtful  if  any  other  bird  will  be  able  to  show  a  better  record  for  the  destruction  of 
grasshoppers.  One  stomach  examined  contained  37  individuals;  but  it  should  be 
borne  in  mind  that  the  birds  that  form  the  subject  of  this  paper  were  not  collected 
from  any  region  specially  infested,  but  were  gathered  from  all  parts  of  the  Southern 
States,  and  of  the  whole  number,  466  contained  grasshoppers. 

Beetles  of  many  species  stand  next  to  crickets  and  grasshoppers  in  importance,  and 
constitute  nearly  18  per  cent  of  the  annual  food.  One  of  the  most  harmful  of  these 
is  the  family  of  the  May  beetles  or  leaf  chafers,  the  average  consumption  of  which 
amounts  to  about  9  per  cent  for  the  year,  and  the  greatest,  28  per  cent,  in  May. 
Most  of  these  are  dung  beetles,  but  remains  of  the  well-known  May  beetles  were 
found.  Snout  beetles,  or  weevils,  form  a  small  but  very  constant  element  of  the  food 
(about  4  per  cent).  Beetles  belonging  to  about  a  dozen  other  families  collect i\ ely 
constitute  about  3  per  cent  of  the  whole  food.  Of  importance  in  consideiing  the  diet 
of  every  bird  is  the  extent  to  which  it  eats  predacious  ground  beetles.  F  rom  its 
habits  the  meadowlark  might  be  expected  to  feed  largely  upon  these  beetles,  as  they 
live  upon  the  ground  for  the  most  part  and  are  very  abundant.  Examination  shows 
that  these  insects  constitute  somewhat  more  than  11  per  cent  of  the  food  of  the  \ear. 
When  it  is  considered  how  exclusively  the  meadowlark  feeds  upon  the  ground,  this 
is  certainly  a  very  moderate  exhibit  and  would  seem  to  indicate  that  the  bird  does 
not  especially  seek  for  these  beetles  but  simply  eats  such  as  fall  in  its  way. 

True  bugs  are  eaten  with  fair  regularity  by  this  bird  throughout  the  year,  averaging 
3  per  cent  of  the  food  of  the  season.  The  greater  number  are  of  the  family  ot  stmk- 
bugs,  some  of  whose  members  are  familiar  (by  taste)  to  many  who  have  eaten  rasp¬ 
berries  from  the  vines;  these  will  wonder  at  the  taste  of  a  bird  that  can  habitually 


24 


farmers’  BULLETIN  755. 


eat  such  highly  seasoned  food.  Three  specimens  of  the  notorious  chinch  bug  were 
found,  and  it  is  gratifying  to  know  that  the  meadowlark  will  eat  this  insect  which 
has  done  millions  of  dollars  damage  in  this  country. 

Caterpillars,  or  the  larvse  of  butterflies  and  moths,  form  a  very  considerable  portion 
(nearly  13  per  cent)  of  the  food  of  the  meadowlark;  but,  as  with  most  other  birds,  the 
adults  are  rarely  eaten,  only  3  small  moths  having  been  found  in  as  many  of  the  890 
stomachs.  Caterpillars  were  found  in  every  month,  and  even  the  stomachs  taken 
in  December  show  over  2  per  cent.  The  maximum  (28  per  cent)  is  attained  in  May. 

Spiders  and  myriapods  (thousand-legs)  are  eaten  freely,  and  aggregate  nearly  3  per 
cent  of  the  food.  'Other  insects  eaten  include  flies,  found  in  a  few  stomachs;  a 
dragonfly  in  one;  an  earwig  in  one;  and  a  common  cattle  tick  in  one.  Snails  or 
fragments  of  their  shells  were  found  in  seven  stomachs,  sowbugs  in  two,  a  small 
crustacean  in  one,  and  the  bones  of  small  frogs  or  toads  in  three.  These  last  were 
from  stomachs  taken  in  Florida  and  do  not  seem  to  be  a  favorite  food. 

The  vegetable  food  of  the  meadowlark  comprises  21.88  per  cent  of  the  total,  and 
may  be  roughly  divided  into  fruit,  grain,  and  weed  seed.  Fruit  is  mostly  of  wild 
species  and  amounts  to  less  than  2  per  cent.  Grain  of  three  kinds — corn  (the  favorite), 
wheat,  and  oats — constitutes  a  little  less  than  9  per  cent,  and  was  mostly  taken  in 
winter,  showing  conclusively  that  it  was  waste.  No  sprouting  grain  was  found. 
Weed  seeds,  chiefly  ragweed,  barngrass,  smartweed,  sorrel,  mustard,  amaranth,  and 
gromwell  (about  7  per  cent),  like  the  grain,  were  mostly  eaten  in  winter.  In  the 
analysis  of  the  stomach  contents  clover  seed  was  especially  looked  for,  as  the  meadow¬ 
lark  has  been  accused  of  eating  this  to  an  injurious  extent,  but  it  was  found  in  only 
six  stomachs  and  only  a  few  seeds  in  each — only  one  seed  in  some  stomachs. 

Stomach  analysis  does  not  indicate  that  grain  is  preferred  to  weed  seeds.  The  quan¬ 
tity  of  each  taken  is  practically  the  same  and  in  such  a  grain-raising  country  as  this 
it  can  not  be  urged  that  this  food  is  less  easily  obtained  than  the  seeds  of  weeds. 
When  meadowlarks  collect  in  flocks,  as  they  sometimes  do,  they  may  do  some  dam¬ 
age  to  grain,  but  at  the  time  of  the  harvest  of  wheat  and  oats  they  are  not  thus  con¬ 
gregated,  and  the  stomach  records  show  that  at  that  season  practically  none  of  these 
grains  were  found,  it  being  the  time  when  insects  were  most  abundant  and  consti¬ 
tuted  nearly  the  whole  food. 

Recent  investigations  in  South  Carolina,  however,  have  substantiated  accusations 
that  the  meadowlark  is  guilty  of  destroying  sprouting  corn.  Similar  complaints  have 
come  from  time  to  time  from  other  points  in  Southern  States  as  far  west  as  Texas. 
This  habit  seems  to  be  confined  to  the  migrating  or  wintering  flocks  before  they  have 
broken  up  for  the  breeding  season  and  is  probably  occasioned  by  a  scarcity  of  other 
available  food.  North  Carolina  seems  to  be  the  most  northerly  State  in  which  this 
objectionable  trait  of  the  meadowlark  manifests  itself.  Corn  planted  in  March  is 
most  susceptible  to  attack  and  cases  may  be  frequently  encountered  where  whole 
fields  must  be  replanted,  resulting  in  a  delayed  and  less  profitable  crop.  In  attack¬ 
ing  the  sprouts  the  birds  usually  drill  a  small  conical  hole  down  to  the  germinated 
kernel,  which  they  eat,  leaving  the  tender  sprout  exposed  to  the  withering  effect  of 
sun  and  air. 

Unfortunately  for  the  meadowlark,  its  body  is  plump  and  its  flesh  well  flavored, 
and  as  it  is  easily  killed  the  temptation  is  too  great  for  some  persons  to  resist.  But  it 
is  most  frequently  a  case  of  “killing  the  goose  that  lays  the  golden  eggs.”  The  small 
portion  of  food  that  the  creature’s  body  yields  is  as  nothing  compared  with  the  good 
the  bird  does  when  alive.  The  tendency  to  treat  the  meadowlark  as  a  game  bird  is 
far  too  general,  and  every  farmer  on  whose  land  it  is  found  should  rigidly  protect 
it  and  allow  it  to  breed  undisturbed.  When  its  numbers  have  so  far. increased  as  to 
render  it  dangerous  to  crops  will  be  soon  enough  to  begin  the  thinning-out  process, 
but  that  day  is  still  far  distant  in  most  parts  of  the  country. — f.  e.  l.  b. 


25 


COMMON  BIRDS  OF  SOUTHEASTERN  UNITED  STATES. 


BOAT-TAILED  GRACKLE.1 


The  food  of  this  species  consists  principally  of  those  small  crabs  called  “fiddlers  ” 
of  which  millions  are  found  along  the  margins  of  the  rivers  and  mud  flats,  as  well  as 

of  large  insects  of  all  kinds, 
ground-worms,  and  seeds, 
especiallygrains.  *  *  *  In 
autumn,  while  the  rice  is 
yet  in  the  stack,  they  com¬ 
mit  considerable  mischief 
by  feeding  on  the  grain, 
although  not  so  much  as 
when  it  is  in  a  juicy  state, 
when  the  planters  are 
obliged  to  employ  persons 
to  chase  them  from  the 
fields.2 


In  the  investigations 
made  by  the  Biological 
Survey  there  have  been 
examined  247  stomachs 
from  Florida,  Alabama, 
Mississippi,  Georgia,  and 
Texas,  representing  every 
month  in  the  year.  The 
food  consists  of  47.45  per 
cent  animal  matter  and 
52.55  per  cent  vegetable. 
The  former  is  made  up  of 
insects  and  crustaceans, 
with  a  few  lizards,  toads, 
frogs,  small  mammals,  etc. 
Crustaceans  make  up  more 
than  a  third  of  the  animal 
food  (16.81  per  cent  of  the 
total)  and  consist  of  craw¬ 
fish,  crabs,  and  shrimps,  a 
true  seashore  diet.  No  in¬ 
sects  appear  to  be  specially 
sought.  Predacious  beetles 
(3.23  per  cent)  are  taken 
mostly  in  fall,  and  other 
beetles  are  found  to  some 
extent,  but  no  family  is 
conspicuous.  Grasshop¬ 
pers  are  eaten  in  July  and 
August  (34.47  and  30  per 

ent  respectively)  but  very  few  in  any  other  month.  The  average  lor  the  year  is 
76 "per  cent  six  birds  taken  in  Texas  in  September  are  worthy  of  special  men!  10 
mmfte  Tact  that  they  had  all  eaten  cotton  bo.lworms  in 
o  93  per  cent  of  the  food.  A  few  other  insects  and 

re  frequently  found  in  the  stomachs,  but  do  not  loim  impel  a _ _ . 


Fio.  12. — Boat-tailed  grac-kle.  Length,  about  16  inches. 


i  Megaquiscalus  major. 


2  Ornith.  Biog.,  11,  504,  1835. 


The  boat-tailed  grackle  (fig.  12),  the  largest  of  the  blackbirds  in  the  United  States 
inhabits  the  South  Atlantic  and  Gulf  States  from  Virginia  to  Texas  but  is  not  found 
jit  any  great  distance  irom  the  coast.  Little  has  been  written  concerning  its  food 
habits,  but  Audubon,  whose  account  is  apparently  the  best,  says: 


26 


FARMERS  BULLETIN  755. 


Grain  (35.65  per  cent),  all  but  a  mere  trace  of  which  ia  corn,  composes  part  of  the 
food  of  every  month  except  May — the  only  stomachs  collected  in  this  month  came 
from  a  rice  field  near  Savannah,  Ga.  In  each  month  except  May  and  November  corn 
constitutes  more  than  half  the  vegetable  food.  October  shows  the  greatest  quantity 
(71  per  cent  of  the  total  food),  but  as  only  five  stomachs  were  taken  in  this  month  this 
result  can  hardly  be  regarded  as  a  fair  average.  The  pulp  of  some  large  seed  or  nut, 
not  otherwise  identified,  was  next  in  importance  to  corn.  Remains  of  figs  in  several 
stomachs  and  wild  grapes  in  one,  indicate  that  fruit  is  eaten,  though  sparingly.  No 
weed  seeds  were  found. 

It  is  thus  evident  that  no  very  salient  points  in  favor  of  the  boat-tailed  grackle 
have  come  to  light.  In  its  insect  food  it  has  no  very  pronounced  preferences,  and 
while  it  does  not  cause  great  havoc  among  useful  insects,  it  does  not  prey  exten¬ 
sively  upon  harmful  ones.  In  common  with  most  other  land  birds,  it  eats  grasshoppers 
freely  in  July  and  August,  and  shows  a  taste  for  caterpillars  as  well.  The  animal  food 
it  decidedly  prefers  is  small  maritime  crustaceans,  and  these,  so  far  as  the  interests  of 
agriculture  are  concerned,  are  entirely  neutral.  In  its  vegetable  diet,  the  bird  cer¬ 
tainly  does  not  commend  itself  to  the  agriculturist.  Its  preference  for  corn  is  very 
marked  and  shows  no  variation  with  the  change  of  season.  That  it  visits  the  growing 
crop  for  its  supplies  is 
evident  from  the  fact  that 
much  of  the  corn  found 
in  the  stomachs  during 
early  summer  is  “in  the 
milk.”  In  any  locality, 
therefore,  where  this 
grackle  is  very  abundant 
it  must  almost  necessarily 
be  harmful  to  the  corn 
crop  without  rendering 
any  well-defined  service 
in  return. — f.  e.  l.  b. 


.  m\rt 

4,  jM 


BLUEBIRD.1 

Typical  of  all  that  is 
pleasing  in  bird  life  gen¬ 
erally,  the  bluebird  (fig. 
13)  is  especially  cherished 
wherever  it  is  found,  and 
on  esthetic  grounds  alone 
is  carefully  protected.  It 


~im§, 

//Wm 

A 


Fig.  13. — Bluebird.  Length,  about  7  inches. 


ranges  in  the  breeding  season  throughout  the  United  States  east  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  and  remains  in  winter  as  far  north  as  the  southern  parts  of  Illinois  and 
Pennsylvania.  It  is  one  of  the  most  domestic  of  our  wild  feathered  friends  and 
readily  takes  possession  of  the  box  erected  for  its  accommodation  where  it  can  be  safe 
from  cats  and  other  prowlers,  or  utilizes  crannies  of  farm  buildings  for  its  nest;  its 
original  homes,  however,  were  in  such  places  as  deserted  woodpecker-holes  or  cavities 
in  old  stumps.  These  birds  are  usually  abundant  wherever  found  and  their  numbers 
are  maintained  by  the  rearing  of  two  and  frequently  three  broods  a  year,  with  from 
four  to  six  young  in  each.  The  food  supply  for  such  large  families  may  wel]  concern 
the  farmer,  and  he  will  be  interested  to  learn  what  these  birds  relish  most 
For  studying  the  food  of  the  bluebird  244  stomachs  from  the  Southeastern  States 
were  available,  and  the  contents,  58.51  per  cent  animal  food  and  41.49  per  cent  vege¬ 
table,  well  demonstrate  that  the  bird  is  as  deserving  of  protection  on  economic 
grounds  as  it  is  for  esthetic  reasons. 


1  Sialia  sialis. 


COMMON  BIRDS  OF  SOUTHEASTERN  UNITED  STATES.  27 

In  the  animal  food  the  largest  portion  is  made  up  of  orthopterous  insects  (ruass- 
hoppers,  crickets,  and  katydids),  totaling  20.53  per  cent  for  the  year.  Most  insects 
of  this  group  are  harmful  and  at  times  very  destructive.  Second  in  importance  in  the 
diet  are  beetles  (18.79  per  cent),  made  up  in  part  of  useful  ground  beetles  (10.38  per 
cent  of  the  total  food),  but  in  this  item  also  are  May  beetles  (3.9  per  cent),  weevils  or 
snout  beetles  (1.13  per  cent),  and  miscellaneous  related  forms  (3.38  per  cent).  The 
useful  beetles  are  sometimes  eaten  in  such  numbers  as  to  detract  from  the  esteem  in 
which  the  bluebird  is  held,  the  month  of  May,  for  instance,  charging  them  against 
the  bird  to  the  extent  of  36.61  per  cent  of  the  food,  and  every  month  recording  them 
in  such  quantities  as  to  indicate  that  they  are  very  palatable  to  the  bluebird.  Few 
birds  exceed  this  record  of  destruction  of  useful  beetles,  but  it  must  be  remembered 
that  for  the  year  they  form  only  about  one-tenth  of  the  food,  and  that  the  remaining 
food  shows  that  insects  as  a  whole  are  attacked  so  impartially  that  the  balance  of 
nature  is  not  disturbed,  and  while  one  kind  of  insect  life  is  not  exterminated  another 
is  not  allowed  to  become  superabundant;  grasshoppers,  for  instance,  enter  the  food 
of  the  bluebird  about  in  proportion  to  their  abundance. 

The  group  third  in  order  of  importance  in  the  animal  food  contains  the  many  forms 
of  caterpillars,  including  a  few  moths  (9.59  per  cent).  Chief  among  these  are  the 
owlet  moths,  the  larvae  of  which  are  the  well-known  cutworms,  but  there  are  also 
included  hairy  caterpillars  and  the  “yellow  bear.”  The  rest  of  the  animal  food  is 
made  up  of  flying  insects,  as  wasps,  bees,  and  flies,  in  small  quantities,  for  the  bird  is 
not  very  active  on  the  wing;  of  ants  and  bugs,  among  which  latter  stinkbugs  pre¬ 
dominate;  remains  of  chinch  bugs,  detected  in  one  stomach;  a  few  spiders  (2.47  per 
cent);  still  fewer  myriapods,  or  thousand-legs  (1.23  per  cent);  a  mere  trace  of  sowbugs 
and  snails;  and  a  few  bones  of  lizards  and  tree  frogs. 

The  vegetable  food  consists  largely  of  fruit  obtained  from  pastures,  swamps,  and 
hedgerows,  rather  than  from  gardens  and  orchards.  Practically  all  the  domestic  fruit 
taken  was  secured  in  June  and  November,  and  the  only  cultivated  species  identified 
were  cherries  and  raspberries  or  blackberries.  In  December,  wild  fruit  forms  two- 
thirds  of  the  monthly  food,  but  this  item  decreases  gradually  each  month,  and  in  May 
no  fruit  of  any  kind  is  taken.  The  yearly  average  is  about  a  third  of  the  total  food. 
As  fruit  is  taken  chiefly  in  winter,  it  follows  that  it  is  eaten  to  tide  the  bird  over  until 
insects  are  again  abundant,  partly  taking  the  place  of  seeds  in  the  winter  diet  of  birds 
in  general,  though  seeds,  too,  are  occasionally  and  sparingly  eaten  by  the  bluebird. 
Among  them  are  seeds  of  sumac  of  both  harmless  and  poisonous  kinds,  bayberry,  and 
a  little  indeterminate  vegetable  refuse  and  rubbish,  together  averaging  7.21  per  cent 
of  the  yearly  food. 

The  bluebird  has  never  been  accused,  in  the  writer’s  knowledge,  of  objectionable 
habits,  and  cultivated  crops  are  not  only  safe  from  its  attacks,  but  are  benefited  by  its 
ridding  them  of  an  overabundance  of  harmful  insects.  In  spring  and  early  summer, 
when  berries  and  small  fruits  are  at  their  best,  the  bird  subsists  upon  insects  to  the 
extent  of  five-sixths  of  its  food.  Its  fruit-eating  period  is  from  late  fall  to  early  spring, 
when  insects  are  scarce  and  waste  fruit  available.  The  point  that  has  been  urged 
against  the  bird,  its  destruction  of  predacious  beetles,  is  a  harmful  trait  more  appaient 
than  real,  inasmuch  as  its  record  on  all  other  lines  is  absolutely  in  its  favor.  Held 
observation  and  laboratory  analysis  of  the  food  fully  justify  the  high  esteem  in  w  hie  i 
the  bird  is  held,  and  there  is  not  the  slightest  excuse  for  persecuting  it  or  withdrawing 
from  it  the  smallest  degree  of  protection,  f.  e.  l.  b. 


CAROLINA  CHICKADEE.1 

The  Carolina  chickadee  (fig.  14)  ranges  through  the  southern  portion  of  the  United 
States  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Rockies  and  north  to  the  Ohio  River  and  to  some  extent 
beyond.  Its  nest  is  built  in  hollow  trees  or  posts,  or  m  boxes  set  up  .or  its  »!><■'  ml 


i  Penthestes  carolinensis. 


28 


FARMERS*  BULLETIN  755. 


accommodation.  A  bird  of  forests  and  groves,  it  is  not  found  on  treeless  areas,  and  does 
not  often  alight  upon  the  ground.  From  this  it  follows  that  its  food  is  mostly  of  the 
kind  that  can  be  taken  on  trees  or  bushes,  and,  therefore,  excludes  such  ground-inhab¬ 
iting  insects  as  ants  and  grasshoppers. 

The  study  of  the  food  habits  of  the  Carolina  chickadee  is  based  upon  an  examination 
of  the  contents  of  210  stomachs  collected  in  the  Southeastern  States.  The  food  con¬ 
sisted  of  71.94  per  cent  animal  matter  and  28.06  per  cent  vegetable,  the  former  being 
made  up  of  insects  and 
spiders  with  a  few  sowbugs, 
found  in  one  stomach,  and 
the  latter  of  berries  and 
several  kinds  of  seeds. 

Beetles,  being  rather  ter¬ 
restrial  in  habit,  escape  the 
chickadees  to  some  exteirt, 
forming  only  3.67  per  cent 
of  their  food .  N  early  half 
of  these  were  snout  beetles, 
or  weevils,  of  which  prac¬ 
tically  all  species  are  more 
or  less  harmful  and  many 
are  pests.  The  predacious 
ground  beetles  apparently 
elude  these  birds  complete¬ 
ly,  for  not  a  trace  of  one 
was  found  in  any  of  the  210 
stomachs. 

A  few  ants  were  taken  in 
the  months  from  February 
to  June,  except  May,  but 
the  average  for  the  year  is 
only  0.36  per  cent.  Bees 
and  wasps  (4.48  per  cent  of 
the  food  of  the  year)  were 
taken  often er  and  more 
regularly.  The  month  of 
greatest  consumption  was 
February,  which  would  ap¬ 
pear  to  be  rather  early  for 
bees  and  wasps  to  be  out 
extensively,  and  March 
stands  next. 

Bugs  seem  to  be  a  favorite 
food  in  the  four  months  from 
April  to  July,  during  which 
the  great  bulk  is  eaten. 

The  average  for  these  Fig.  14. — Carolina  chickadee.  Length,  about  4J  inches, 

months  is  15.13  per  cent, 

but  for  the  whole  year  it  is  only  5.68  per  cent,  as  bugs  were  eaten  in  only  three  of  the 
other  eight  months  and  then  but  sparingly.  This  item  of  food  is  made  up  of  stink- 
bugs,  shield  bugs,  leafhoppers,  tree-hoppers,  plant  lice,  and  scales.  While  no  special 
pest  was  noted,  nearly  all  of  these  are  harmful  and  especially  the  last  two,  of  which 
there  are  hundreds  of  species  and  nearly  every  plant  has  its  own  peculiar  form. 

The  real  food  of  the  Carolina  chickadee  consists  of  moths  and  caterpillars.  Moths 
were  found  in  only  1  stomach,  their  pupee  in  16,  their  eggs  in  20,  and  their  larvae 


COMMON  BIRDS  OF  SOUTHEASTERN  UNITED  STATES.  29 

(caterpillars)  in  138,  or  about  two-thirds  of  those  examined.  The  month  of  greatest 
consumption  is  October,  when  they  amount  to  more  than  three-fourths  of  the  food 
(78.1  per  cent).  The  month  of  least  consumption  is  December,  when  they  still  aggre¬ 
gate  more  than  a  tenth  of  the  yearly  food  (11.74  per  cent).  The  average  for  the  year 
(44.42  per  cent)  is  exceeded  by  cuckoos,  but  by  few  if  any  other  birds.  Chickadees 
have  a  habit  of  beating  their  prey  to  pieces  on  a  branch  of  a  tree  before  swallowing  it, 
so  that  the  stomachs  contain  only  fragments  not  easy  to  identify.  It  is  probable  that 
in  these  were  many  notorious  pests,  for  the  pupse  of  codling  moths  were  recognized  in 
five  stomachs  and  the  eggs  that  produce  one  of  the  tent  caterpillars  in  two. 

Like  many  other  tree-inhabiting  species,  the  Carolina  chickadee  eats  very  few 
grasshoppers,  but  some  were  taken  irregularly  through  the  year  (1.04  per  cent).  In 
five  months,  including  August,  the  grasshopper  month,  none  were  eaten  at  all,  and  but 
few  at  other  times.  So  far  as  stomach  records  show  no  genuine  grasshoppers  were  eaten , 
but  only  some  of  their  allies  in  their  lowest  or  first  stage,  viz,  the  egg.  In  11  stomachs 
were  found  the  eggs  of  katydids;  in  5  the  egg  cases  of  cockroaches;  in  1  a  grasshopper’s 
egg;  and  in  another  a  cricket’s  jaw. 

Flies  are  practically  ignored.  What  were  probably  the  eggs  of  a  crane  fly  were  found 
in  one  stomach,  but  no  adult  flies  were  noted. 

Spiders  seem  very  palatable  to  the  chickadee,  being  eaten  every  month  and  showing 
a  higher  percentage  (10.9  per  cent)  in  the  stomachs  than  any  other  animal  food  except 
caterpillars.  In  five  stomachs  collected  in  March  they  amount  to  44.6  per  cent,  but  a 
greater  number  of  stomachs  would  probably  modify  this  record.  One  stomach  was 
practically  filled  with  the  remains  of  sowbugs.  These  appear  to  be  the  only  animal 
food  eaten  that  can  not  be  obtained  from  a  tree,  shrub,  or  weed,  and  it  is  not  clear 
how  the  chickadee  could  get  them,  for  sowbugs  are  essentially  terrestrial  in  habit  and 
are  usually  found  under  a  stone,  clod,  or  mass  of  practically  decayed  vegetation.  A 
few  bones  and  other  tissues  of  a  small  unidentified  vertebrate  taken  in  June  complete 
the  animal  food. 

The  vegetable  food  of  the  Carolina  chickadee  consists  chiefly  of  fruit  and  seeds. 
Blackberries  or  raspberries,  found  in  two  stomachs;  blueberries,  in  one;  and  fruit 
pulp  not  further  identified,  in  five,  constitute  2.17  per  cent  of  the  food  for  the  year. 
Seeds  of  poison  ivy  (10.07  per  cent  for  the  year)  appear  to  be  a  favorite  food  in  the  colder 
months,  but  only  the  waxy  coating  is  eaten.  This  is  taken  off  and  swallowed  and  the 
real  seed  rejected,  so  that  the  bird  does  not  aid  in  the  distribution  of  this  noxious  plant 
as  do  so  many  birds  that  swallow  the  seeds  and  afterwards  either  disgorge  them  or  pass 
them  through  the  alimentary  canal  to  fall  and  germinate  in  a  different  locality. 

Other  seeds,  most  of  them  so  broken  and  ground  up  as  to  be  unidentifiable,  were 
eaten  to  the  extent  of  12.38  per  cent,  chiefly  in  the  colder  months.  In  nine  stomachs 
taken  dining  this  season  were  pieces  of  liverwort,  a  plant  of  the  lower  order  that  grows 
upon  the  bark  of  trees  or  damp  rocks.  This  seems  a  very  curious  food  for  a  bird,  and 
is  probably  taken  when  other  supplies  are  scarce. 

In  a  resume  of  the  food  of  the  Carolina  chickadee,  one  is  impressed  with  the  fact 
that  a  large  proportion  consists  of  the  eggs,  pupse,  and  larvae  of  noxious  insects.  As 
an  enemy  of  caterpillars  the  bird  has  few  peers.  It  also  destroys  a  great  many  of 
those  two  pests  of  horticulture,  plant  lice  and  scales. — f.  e.  l.  b. 

TUFTED  TITMOUSE.1 

The  tufted  titmouse  inhabits  the  whole  of  eastern  United  States  from  the  Gulf  to 
southern  Iowa  and  northern  New  Jersey.  It  is  contented  with  various  kinds  of  sur¬ 
roundings  and  will  nest  as  readily  in  a  box  erected  in  the  dooryard  or  garden  as  m  the 
midst  of  the  deep  forest.  Its  preferred  nesting  site  is  an  old  woodpecker-hole  or  an 
unoccupied  box  put  up  for  a  wren,  and  it  usually  remains  in  the  vicinity  of  its  nest 


i  Bxolophus  bicolor. 


30 


FARMERS 9  BULLETIN  755. 


during  the  year.  It  is  a  rather  noisy  bird  and  keeps  up  its  monotonous  cry  with 
tiresome  iteration.  In  winter  small  flocks  assemble,  probably  family  groups,  and 
ceaselessly  wander  about  the  forest  in  search  of  food,  scrambling  about  the  trunks  and 
larger  branches  of  trees  for  hidden  insects  and  their  eggs.  At  such  times,  they  are 
very  tame  and  pay  little  attention  to  human  intruders.  At  the  approach  of  spring 
they  separate  into  pairs. 

For  investigating  the  food  of  the  tufted  tit  186  stomachs  were  examined.  These 
were  too  few  and  too  irregularly  distributed  through  the  year  to  afford  more  than  an 
approximation  of  the  bird’s  economic  worth.  The  food  consisted  of  66.57  per  cent 
animal  matter  to  33.43  per  cent  vegetable.  Contrasted  with  the  food  of  the  brown 
thrasher,  in  which  no  one  article  predominates,  that  of  the  tufted  tit  includes  one 
item,  caterpillars,  which  forms  more  than  half  the  animal  food,  and  two  items,  cater¬ 
pillars  and  wasps,  which  are  more  than  half  the  whole  food. 

Beetles  make  up  7.06  per  cent  of  the  subsistence,  and  of  these  only  one-tenth  of  1 
per  cent  are  useful  species.  More  than  two-thirds  of  the  beetles  (4.94  per  cent)  are 
snout  beetles,  or  weevils.  Among  these  the  cotton  boll  weevil  was  found  in  four  stom¬ 
achs.  The  remainder  (2.02  per  cent)  are  of  various  families,  all  harmful. 

Ants  are  eaten  by  this  tit  occasionally,  but  in  the  light  of  present  evidence  can  not 
be  considered  a  standard  article  of  diet.  Other  hymenopterous  food,  i.  e.,  bees, 
wasps,  and  sawfly  larvae,  is  eaten  much  more  extensively  (12.5  per  cent),  and  as  the 
sawfly  larvae  predominate,  the  winged  forms  are  not  in  the  majority  among  the  hymen- 
opterans.  The  tufted  tit,  like  the  cuckoo  in  this  respect,  takes  many  sawfly  larvae 
when  searching  for  caterpillars. 

Bugs,  principally  stinkbugs,  tree-hoppers,  and  scales,  or  bark  lice,  are  eaten  to  a 
moderate  extent  (4.03  per  cent)  in  seven  of  the  twelve  months.  Their  absence  from 
September  to  January,  inclusive,  would  probably  disappear  with  a  greater  collection  of 
stomachs.  Scales  were  the  most  numerous  of  the  bugs,  and  in  two  stomachs  specimens 
of  the  European  fruit  scale  were  identified.  In  one  stomach,  and  this  taken  in 
January,  were  found  the  remains  of  a  single  fly;  from  this  record  it  may  safely  be 
asserted  that  flies  are  not  a  favorite  food  of  this  bird. 

Caterpillars  apparently  stand  at  the  head  of  the  dietary  of  the  tufted  tit,  aggregating 
more  than  half  the  animal  food  for  the  year  (38.31  per  cent).  They  were  eaten  in 
every  month  but  one — November.  Of  six  stomachs  taken  in  that  month  not  one 
contained  caterpillars,  although  both  October  and  December  stomachs  show  fair  per¬ 
centages.  The  one  stomach  taken  in  August  gives  that  month  the  highest  of  any,  76 
per  cent.  The  titmouse  is  so  small  a  bird  that  the  caterpillars  eaten  are  mostly  torn 
in  pieces  before  being  swallowed,  thus  making  identification  difficult  or  impossible, 
but  the  cotton  leaf  worm  was  identified  in  one  stomach .  N o  grasshoppers  or  crickets 
were  found.  The  only  traces  of  orthopterous  insects  (0.42  per  cent)  were  eggs  of  katy¬ 
dids,  egg  cases  of  cockroaches,  and  a  jaw  and  an  ovipositor  thought  to  be  of  a  grasshopper. 

Spiders  are  picked  up  in  moderation  and  rather  irregularly.  They  are  evidently 
a  makeshift  food,  and  were  found  in  40  stomachs  examined  in  May  (12.67  per  cent),  7 
stomachs  in  June  (a  mere  trace),  and  3  stomachs  in  July  (16.33  per  cent).  Thousand- 
legs  were  not  found.  A  few  snails  make  up  the  remainder  of  the  animal  food. 

Of  the  vegetable  food,  corn  was  discovered  in  one  stomach,  evidently  taken  on  trial. 
Fruit  was  eaten  to  a  moderate  extent  (5.15  per  cent),  mostly  in  midsummer,  and  included 
raspberries,  blackberries,  and  strawberries,  which  might  have  been  of  cultivated 
varieties,  but  probably  were  not.  The  wild  fruits  were  such  as  grow  by  the  wayside 
and  in  swamps,  as  elderberries,  hackberries,  blueberries,  huckleberries,  and  mulberries. 
Seeds  of  various  kinds,  as  sumac — including  poison  ivy — bayberry,  or  wax  myrtle, 
aggregate  4.07  per  cent.  It  is  difficult  to  draw  the  line  between  broken  seeds  and  mast 
in  stomachs  of  the  tufted  tit,  but,  together  considered  as  mast,  these  form  more  than  two- 
thirds  of  the  vegetable  food.  While  largely  composed  of  acorns,  there  is  no  doubt  that 
chinquapins  and  beechnuts  and  many  smaller  seeds  enter  into  its  composition.  As 


COMMON  BIRDS  OF  SOUTHEASTERN  UNITED  STATES. 


31 


thus  defined,  mast  amounts  to  23.4  per  cent  of  the  whole  food,  comprising  95  per  cent 
of  that  eaten  in  November,  50.42  per  cent  in  January,  and  55.97  per  cent  in  February; 
in  fact,  it  is  the  principal  vegetable  food  eaten  from  August  to  February.  That  such 
small  birds  should  crush  such  hard  nuts  as  acorns  and  chinquapins  is  surprising,  but 
the  broken  fragments  found  in  the  stomachs  well  demonstrate  their  ability. 

From  the  foregoing  discussion  of  the  food  of  the  tufted  titmouse,  it  is  evident  that  the 
bird  is  beneficial,  and  so  far  as  this  investigation  shows  it  has  no  bad  habits  or  tastes  to 
offset  the  good  it  does  by  its  destruction  of  noxious  insects.  If  encouraged,  it  becomes 

domestic,  and,  like  the 
wren,  lives  about  the  gar¬ 
den  and  helps  to  keep  in 
check  the'  hundreds  of 
insects  that  prey  upon 
the  products  of  cultiva¬ 
tion. — F.  E.  L.  B. 

PURPLE  MARTIN.1 

The  purple  martin  (fig. 
15),  or  house  martin,  as 
it  is  more  commonly 
called,  occupies  the 
whole  of  the  United 
States  during  the  breed¬ 
ing  season,  but  is  rather 
more  numerous  in  the 
South.  Its  habit  of 
building  nests  in  boxes 
provided  for  its  express 
use  has  caused  it  to  be¬ 
come  the  most  domestic 
of  all  swallows.  Besides 
houses  erected  for  them, 
the  birds  do  not  disdain 
gourds  hollowed  out  and 
hung  on  poles.  As  their 
food  is  taken  on  the  wing, 
clear’  open  lands,  espe¬ 
cially  low  moist  mead¬ 
ows,  offer  them  better 
foraging  ground  than  or¬ 
chards  or  groves.  While 
the  greater  part  of  their 
food  consists  of  insects 
that  fly,  a  few  wingless  forms,  as  ants,  spiders,  and  caterpillars,  are  taken,  but  these 
are  most  likely  picked  from  the  tops  of  weeds  as  the  birds  dart  past.  Some  ants  have 
wings  at  certain  times  and  so  become  part  of  the  usual  fare.  In  this  investigation  o  t  e 
martin’s  food,  56  stomachs  were  examined,  taken  in  the  five  months  from  March  to 
July,  and  the  contents  found  to  consist  entirely  of  animal  matter. 

As  might  be  expected,  beetles  do  not  occupy  a  high  rank  in  the  food  of  the  martin, 
most  of  them  being  but  little  on  the  wing.  Together  they  form  only  5.14  per  cent  of  the 
whole  food .  Less  than  2  per  cent  are  the  predacious  ground  beetles,  and  less  than  half 

of  1  per  cent  snout  beetles  or  weevils.  _ _ _  . 


Fig.  15. — Purple  martin.  Length,  about  8  inches. 


1  Proqne  subis 


32 


FARMERS  ’  BULLETIN  755. 


Ants  (3.68  per  cent)  were  eaten  in  May,  June,  and  July.  Naturally,  these  were  the 
winged  forms,  though  a  few  wingless  ones  may  occasionally  have  been  taken.  Other 
hymenopterans,  as  bees  and  wasps,  are  taken  much  more  frequently  (14.67  per  cent). 

True  bugs  form  the  largest  item  of  diet  of  the  martin  and  consist  for  the  most  part  of 
the  larger  flying  species,  as  stinkbugs,  shield  bugs,  and  leaf-legged  bugs,  with  some 
tree-hoppers.  They  are  found  in  the  food  of  every  month  and  in  all  amount  to  41.41 
per  cent.  The  great  bulk  of  the  bug  tribe  are  noxious  insects  and  include  some  of  the 
worst  pests  of  agriculture. 

Flies  are  eaten  to  the  extent  of  7.2  per  cent,  and  consist  largely  of  the  long-legged 
crane  flies,  or  “daddylonglegs,  ”  so  called.  Lepidopterans  are  represented  in  the  stom¬ 
achs  of  most  birds  by  their  larvae,  commonly  known  as  caterpillars;  but  the  martin, 
taking  its  food  on  the  wing,  catches  the  adult  insects,  the  moths,  or  butterflies.  Most 
of  the  moths  eaten,  however,  are  very  small,  so  that  they  form  only  1.25  per  cent 
of  the  food.  Butterflies  were  found  in  only  one  stomach.  Grasshoppers  and  crickets 
(3.58  per  cent)  are  eaten  principally  in  May  and  June,  instead  of  August,  which,  with 
most  birds,  is  the  usual  month  for  eating  grasshoppers. 

A  somewhat  peculiar  article  of  the  martin’s  diet  is  the  remains  of  large  dragonflies, 
found  in  29  of  the  56  stomachs  examined.  Six  stomachs  were  entirely  filled  with  these 
rather  formidable  looking  creatures.  As  dragonflies  feed  upon  mosquitoes  and  other 
small  insects,  the  martin  can  not  be  considered  as  doing  man  a  service  by  eating  them. 
Besides  insects  a  few  spiders  also  were  eaten. 

Among  the  harmful  insects  destroyed  by  the  martin  may  be  mentioned  the  clover 
leaf  weevil,  found  in  a  number  of  stomachs,  one  of  which  contained  upward  of  40  indi¬ 
viduals.  An  engraver  beetle,  a  form  that  does  great  damage  to  timber,  was  found 
in  one  stomach  and  the  cotton  boll  weevil  in  another.  Several  stomachs  contained 
honey  bees,  but  all  were  males  or  drones. — f.  e.  l.  b. 

SCISSOR-TAILED  FLYCATCHER.1 

The  scissor-tailed  flycatcher  (fig.  16)  is  found  chiefly  from  central  and  eastern  Texas 
and  Oklahoma  to  southern  Kansas  during  the  months  from  April  to  October,  and 
casually  in  western  Louisiana,  western  Arkansas,  and  southwestern  Missouri.  It 
occasionally  wanders  to  far-distant  sections,  and  in  winter  moves  farther  south  and 
with  few  exceptions  retires  beyond  the  southern  boundary.  Like  the  kingbird,  it 
prefers  for  nesting  sites  open  country,  and  it  seems  to  be  best  suited  with  prairies  or 
rolling  land  with  scattered  trees.  In  settled  territory  it  takes  kindly  to  orchards  and 
even  gardens  in  the  near  vicinity  of  buildings.  While  generally  a  quiet  bird  living 
on  good  terms  with  its  neighbors,  it  displays  some  of  the  aggressive  spirit  of  the  king¬ 
bird  as  regards  crows  and  hawks,  and  whenever  they  appear  near  its  nest  attacks 
them  with  great  vigor. 

The  following  discussion  of  this  bird’s  food  is  based  upon  examination  of  the  con¬ 
tents  of  128  stomachs  rather  irregularly  distributed  over  the  seven  months  from  April 
to  October.  All  are  from  Texas  except  one  from  Florida,  which  is  considerably 
outside  of  the  bird’s  usual  range.  The  stomach  contents  were  divided  between  96.12 
per  cent  animal  food,  practically  all  insects  and  spiders,  and  3.88  per  cent  vegetable, 
chiefly  small  fruits  and  seeds. 

Of  the  animal  food,  beetles  (13.74  per  cent)  form  a  rather  constant  article  of  diet. 
Less  than  1  per  cent  belong  to  theoretically  useful  families.  The  others  are  prac¬ 
tically  all  harmful.  The  well-known  12-spotted  cucumber  beetle,  which  is  often 
very  injurious  to  the  cucumber,  as  well  as  to  squash  vines,  corn,  clover,  beets,  beans, 
peas,  and  asparagus,  was  found  in  one  stomach.  Snout  beetles,  or  weevils,  occurred 
in  a  number  of  stomachs,  and  the  well-known  cotton  boll  weevil  in  four.  Most  of 
the  beetles  are  consumed  in  May,  and  the  least  in  June,  but  as  only  two  stomachs 
were  taken  in  the  latter  month  the  record  is  subject  to  revision. 


1  Muscivora  forficata. 


COMMON  BIRDS  OF  SOUTHEASTERN  UNITED  STATES. 


33 


Bees,  wasps,  and  ants  are  eaten  to  the  extent  of  12.81  per  cent  of  the  yearly  food, 
which  is  the  lowest  record  but  one  for  this  item  among  birds  of  the  flycatcher  tribe. 
As  a  rule  this  kind  of  food  constitutes  one  of  the  most  important  elements  of  the  fly¬ 
catchers’  diet,  as  these  insects,  excepting  ants,  being  almost  constantly  on  the  wins 
during  daylight,  are  peculiarly  adapted  to  these  birds’  methods  of  feeding.  Those 

eaten  by  the  scissor- tail  are 
mostly  of  the  larger  kinds, 
i.  e.,  bees  and  wasps,  with 
very  few  of  the  smaller  para¬ 
sitic  species. 

Bugs  (10.17  per  cent  of 
the  diet)  were  found  in  47 
stomachs.  At  least  nine 
families  were  identified, 
but  stinkbugs  were  most 
abundant  and  were  found 
in  22  of  the  47  stomachs. 
In  two  stomachs  wras  iden¬ 
tified  that  disagreeable 
pest,  the  squash  bug,  a 
creature  not  classified  by 
entomologists  in  the  stink- 
bug  family,  but  if  disgust¬ 
ing  odor  were  the  chief  re¬ 
quisite,  it  is  well  qualified 
for  that  honor.  Most  of 
the  other  bugs  identified 
are  harmful.  Flies  (3.8  per 
cent),  found  in  the  stom¬ 
achs  taken  in  April,  May, 
and  September  only,  do 
not  seem  to  appeal  to  this 
flycatcher;  in  8  of  the  14 
stomachs  they  wTere  identi¬ 
fied  as  robber  flies. 

Grasshoppers  and  crick¬ 
ets,  evidently  a  favorite 
diet  of  the  scissor-tail,  w^ere 
found  in  goodly  quantity 
in  the  food  of  every  month 
except  April.  The  aver¬ 
age  for  the  year  is  46.07  per 
cent— the  highest  for  any 
flycatcher.  The  one  stom¬ 
ach  taken  in  October  con¬ 
tained  these  insects  to  the 

extent  of  80  per  cent,  but  it  is  probable  that  the  month  of  maximum  consumption  is 
Juh  when  they  attain  65  per  cent.  As  this  bird  is  said  seldom  to  alight  upon  t  e 
ground,  these  insects  must  be  captured  during  tlieir  flights  or  d  ’ 

grasshoppers  and  crickets  are  eaten  most  by  ground-feeding  birds,  as  the 
Lk  whUe  flycatchers  take  bees,  wasps,  etc.  With  this  bird  the t  n.  =  reversed. 

with  the  ^r  tail  (4.61  per  cent  for  the  year),  and  were  found  m  the  stomachs  of 


Fig.  16— Scissor-tailed  flycatcher.  Length,  about  14  inches. 


34 


FARMERS }  BULLETIN  755. 


every  month  except  October.  The  cotton  leaf  worm  was  identified  in  several 
stomachs  and  the  cotton  boll  worm  in  one.  The  latter  is  a  well-known  pest  in  cotton 
fields  and  also  feeds  upon  a  number  of  other  cultivated  plants,  including  sweet  corn, 
from  which  it  is  known  also  as  the  corn  worm.  It  preys  also  upon  tomatoes  and 
occasionally  upon  beans  and  peas.  A  few  dragonflies,  together  with  miscellaneous 
insects  and  spiders,  com¬ 


plete  the  animal  food  (4.92 
per  cent). 

The  vegetable  food  of  the 
scissor-tail  consists  of  small 
fruit,  or  berries,  and  a  few 
seeds.  The  total  percent¬ 
age,  3. 88,  indicates  that  this 
is  not  the  favorite,  but  is 
taken  for  variety. 

The  food  of  the  scissor- 
tailed  flycatcher  requires 
but  little  study  to  show 
that  where  the  bird  is 
abundant,  it  is  of  much 
economic  value.  The  bird 
selects  a  diet  almost  en¬ 
tirely  of  insects,  but  in  this 
the  useful  species  are  so  few 
that  they  may  be  disre¬ 
garded.  Its  consumption 
of  grasshoppers  alone  is  suf¬ 
ficient  to  entitle  the  scissor- 
tail  to  complete  protec¬ 
tion. — F.  E.  L.  B. 

RED-COCKADED 
WOODPECKER.1 

The  red-cockaded  wood¬ 
pecker  (fig.  17)  is  an  in¬ 
habitant  of  the  Southeast¬ 
ern  States  from  eastern 
Texas  north  to  southern 
Virginia  and  southern  Mis¬ 
souri.  Pine  woods  are  its 
favorite  haunt,  and  a  large 
percentage  of  its  food  is 
obtained  from  pine  trees. 

No  complaints  have  yet 
been  heard  that  this  bird 

harms  crops  or  forest  trees,  nor  does  analysis  of  its  food  indicate  that  such  is  the  case. 
So  far  as  shown,  it  does  not  frequent  orchards  or  cultivated  land. 

Ninety-nine  stomachs  from  Georgia,  Alabama,  Florida,  Mississippi,  Louisiana,  and 
Texas,  representing  every  month,  but  not  many  in  each,  were  examined.  Of  the 
total  food,  86.08  per  cent  was  composed  of  insects,  and  the  remainder,  13.92  per  cent, 
of  vegetable  matter,  mostly  seeds  of  conifers. 

Useful  beetles  were  found  in  nine  stomachs,  and  amount  to  about  2  per  cent  of 
the  whole  food.  Other  beetles,  chiefly  the  larvae  of  wood-boring  species,  aggregate 


Fig.  17. — Red-cockaded  woodpecker.  Length,  about  8^  inches. 


1  Dryobates  borealis 


COMMON  BIRDS  OF  SOUTHEASTERN 


UNITED  STATES. 


35 


15.6S  per  cent  of  the  annual  diet.  Of  these  a  number  were  weevils,  or  snout  beetles. 
Ants,  evidently  the  favorite  food,  were  eaten  to  a  great  extent  in  every  month. 
December  is  apparently  the  month  of  least  consumption  (28.93  per  cen'  and  Julv 
of  maximum  (69.6  per  cent),  but  the  data  are  hardly  sufficient  to  give  final  fi"res 

The  average  consumption  for  the  year  (51.72  per  cent)  is  exceeded  by  fewothar 

birds. 


True  bugs,  many  of  which  are  scales,  or  bark  lice,  are  eaten  to  the  extent  of  6  99 
per  cent  of  the  food.  The  others  are  mostly  pentatomids,  or  soldier  bugs  Nearly 
all  were  taken  in  the  five  months  from  December  to  April,  and  two-thirds  of  them 
in  December  and  January.  These  insects,  and  especially  the  pentatomids,  are 
lovers  of  warm  weather  and  sunshine  and  many  live  on  fruit.  It  seems  probable 
that  this  bird  gets  them  from  their  hibernating  places.  Grasshoppers,  crickets, 
caterpillars,  white  ants,  spiders,  and  egg  cases  of  cockroaches,  make  up  the  rest  of 
the  animal  food. 

The  greater  part  of  the  vegetable  food,  about  a  tenth  of  the  total,  consists  of  mast, 
mostly  seeds  of  conifers.  This  was  found  in  45  of  the  99  stomachs,  and  appears  to 


Fig.  18. — Chuck-wilPs-widow.  Length,  about  12  inches. 


be  a  somewhat  regular  article  of  diet,  especially  in  the  colder  months.  Fruit  pulp, 
poison-ivy  seeds,  bayberry  and  other  seeds,  cambium,  and  rubbish  each  occurred 
in  a  few  stomachs,  and  together  amount  to  about  4  per  cent  of  the  food.  Corn  was 
found  in  four  stomachs,  and  unidentified  fruit  pulp  in  eight.  The  cambium  was  con¬ 
tained  in  four  stomachs,  and  the  seeds  of  poison  ivy  in  one. 

From  the  foregoing  it  is  evident  that  the  red-cockaded  woodpecker  does  little 
if  any  damage  to  products  of  husbandry  and  that  it  does  good  work  in  the  forest 
by  devouring  wood-boring  larvae.  No  doubt  it  aids  in  distributing  the  seeds  of  the 
pines  upon  which  it  feeds,  but  its  food  has  little  other  economic  interest . — f.  e.  l.  b. 

CHUCK-WILL’S- WIDOW.1 

The  chuck-will’s-widow  (fig.  18),  an  interesting  nocturnal  bird,  breeds  throughout 
the  area  to  which  this  bulletin  is  devoted.  Like  other  species  of  its  family,  it  lays 


1  A  ntrostomus  carolinensis. 


36 


FARMERS  ’  BULLETIN  755. 


only  two  eggs,  which  may  be  deposited  almost  anywhere  on  the  forest  floor,  there 
being  no  nest.  Intrusion  on  this  spot  usually  results  in  the  bird  moving  the  eggs, 
which  it  carries  in  its  mouth. 

The  bird’s  flight  is  noiseless  and  graceful,  and  is  somewhat  more  extended  and  sus¬ 
tained  than  that  of  the  whip-poor-will  but  less  so  than  that  of  the  nighthawk.  Its 
call  note,  which  has  given  rise  to  the  name  here  used  as  well  as  to  others  of  similar 
sound,  is  like  that  of  the  whip-poor-will,  with  an  added  syllable. 

The  color  of  the  chuck-wiU’s-widow  is  a  harmonious  blend  of  buff,  brown,  and 
black,  well  adapted  to  concealing  the  bird  as  it  rests  quietly  in  the  woods  by  day. 
Surrounding  the  mouth  are  numerous  branched  bristles  which  with  the  enormous 
gape  make  a  very  efficient  insect-catching  apparatus.  Although  the  bird  is  only 
12  inches  long,  the  mouth  fully  extended  forms  an  opening  at  least  2  by  3?  inches 
in  size.  It  is  but  natural,  therefore,  that  the  bird  should  prey  upon  some  of  the 
largest  insects. 

Not  only  are  large  insects  captured  and  swallowed,  but  even  small  birds.  Three 
of  the  45  stomachs  of  the  chuck-will’s- widow  thus  far  examined  contained  remains 
of  birds,  in  two  cases  warblers.  As  42  of  the  45  stomachs  were  collected  in  April  and 
May,  the  food  percentages  apply  only  to  those  two  months.  The  percentage  made 
up  of  small  birds  is  7.21. 

Over  58  per  cent  of  the  food  is  composed  of  large  beetles  of  the  family  of  leaf  chafers. 
Considerably  more  than  half  of  these  are  May  beetles,  the  adults  of  the  white  grubs 
so  destructive  to  forage  crops  and  lawns.  Among  other  destructive  beetles  of  this 
group  eaten  by  the  chuck-will’s- widow  are  the  spotted  vine  chafer,  and  several 
others  injurious  to  grapevines  and  apple  trees.  There  were  found  also  in  stomachs 
of  this  bird  specimens  of  the  southern  pine  sawyer,  a  borer  that  in  the  South  has 
destroyed  timber  valued  at  millions  of  dollars;  beetles  of  a  group  whose  larvae  bore 
in  roots,  sometimes  of  orchard  trees;  and  the  palmetto  weevil,  which  is  sometimes 
destructive  to  palms. 

Moths,  mostly  of  large  species,  compose  12.36  per  cent  of  this  bird’s  food  in  April 
and  May,  and  dragonflies  4.63  per  cent.  Specimens  were  taken  of  the  largest  dragon¬ 
fly  known  to  occur  in  eastern  United  States.  Other  items  of  insect  food  are  water 
beetles,  ground  beetles,  click  beetles  (the  adults  of  wireworms),  crane  flies  (inju¬ 
rious  to  pastures),  horseflies,  roaches,  and  green  locusts. 

Despite  the  fact  that  the  chuck-will’s- widows  occasionally  devours  smaller  nsec- 
tivorous  birds,  it  must  be  reckoned  a  useful  species.  It  is  probable  that  birds  are  not 
deliberately  sought,  but  that  they  are  taken  instinctively,  as  would  be  a  moth  or 
other  large  insect  coming  within  reach  of  that  capacious  mouth.  Generally  speaking, 
therefore,  the  chuck- will’s- widow  is  insectivorous  and  most  of  the  insects  it  eats  are 
destructive. — w.  l.  m. 

NIGHTHAWK.1 

The  nighthawk,  or  bull-bat,  has  unfortunately  attracted  more  attention  as  a  target 
for  shooting  practice  than  as  an  object  of  esthetic  and  economic  consideration.  How 
many  thousands  of  these  useful  birds  have  been  sacrificed  in  this  thoughtless  way  it 
would  be  difficult  to  estimate,  but  the  practice  has  been  extant  since  early  times  and 
has  resulted  in  an  enormous  reduction  in  their  numbers.  What  is  worse,  the  night- 
hawk  is  particularly  unfitted  to  withstand  this  sort  of  persecution,  as  it  lays  only  two 
eggs.  Thus  perpetuation  of  the  species  under  favorable  conditions  is  only  barely 
assured.  The  bird  deserves  very  different  treatment.  As  an  adornment  of  the  land¬ 
scape  it  has  few  superiors  among  birds  (see  illustration  on  title-page).  A  flock  of  night- 
hawks  pursuing  their  complex  but  skillful  aerial  evolutions  is  an  object  of  interest 
and  admiration  seldom  excelled.  Not  only  has  the  species  a  pronounced  esthetic 
value,  but  economically  it  is  practically  beyond  reproach.  The  nighthawk  is  strictly 


1  Chordeiles  virginianus. 


COMMON  BIRDS  OF  SOUTHEASTERN  UNITED  STATES 


37 


insectivorous,  and  for  this  reason  no  blame  can  be  attached  to  it  on  the  score  of  its 
damaging  crops.  The  only  charge  that  can  be  made  against  the  bird  is  that  it  destroys 
some  useful  insects,  but  these  are  far  in  the  minority. 

Nigathawks  are  so  expert  in  flight  that  no  insects  can  escape  them.  They  s 
up  in  their  capacious  mouths  everything  from  the  largest  moths  and  dragonflies 
the  tiniest  ants  and  gnats,  and  in  this  way  sometimes  gather  most  remarkable  collec¬ 
tions  of  insects.  Several  stomachs  have  contained  50  or  more  di  kind  - 

the  number  of  individuals  may  run  into  the  thousands. 

Nearly  a  fourth  of  the  bird’s  total  food  is  composed  of  ants.  These  insects  are  gener¬ 
ally  annoying  and  often  very  injurious,  especially  in  relation  to  stored  products  and 
in  their  activities  in  fostering  destructive  plant  lice.  More  than  a  fifth  of  the  night- 
hawk’s  food  consists  of  May  beetles,  dung  beetles,  and  other  beetles  of  the  leaf  chafer 
family.  These  are  the  adults  of  white  grubs,  noted  pests,  and  even  as  adults  many 
members  of  the  family  are  decidedly  harmful. 

Numerous  other  injurious  beetles,  as  click  beetles,  wood  borers,  and  weevils,  are 
eaten.  True  bugs,  moths,  flies,  grasshoppers,  and  crickets  also  are  important  elements 
of  the  food,  as  are  several  species  of  mosquitoes,  including  the  transmitters  of  malaria. 
Other  well-known  pests  consumed  are  the  Colorado  potato  beetle,  cucumber  beetles, 

rice,  clover  leaf, 
and  cotton  boll 
weevils,  billbugs, 
bark  beetles, 
squash  bugs,  and 
moths  of  the  cot- 
ton  worm.  No 
fewer  than  18  spe¬ 
cies  of  bark  bee¬ 
tles,  which  are 
among  the  most 
destructive  forest 
enemies,  have 
been  identified  in 
the  food  of  the 
nighthawk. 

Nighthawks  de¬ 
servedly  receive 
full  legal  protec¬ 
tion  everywhere, 
and  citizens 

should  see  that  the  law  is  obeyed.  The  nighthawk  is  far  too  useful  and  attractive  a 
species  to  be  persecuted.  Especial  attention  should  be  given  to  safeguarding  any 
eggs  that  may  be  found.  They  are  deposited  on  thebare  ground  or  rocks,  on  logs,  or  on 
flat  gravel  roofs  in  cities. — w.  l.  m. 

YELLOW-BILLED  CUCKOO.1 

Cuckoos  are  rather  shy  birds,  keeping  among  the  foliage  of  trees  or  bushes  and 
making  but  little  noise.  They  do  not,  however,  entirely  avoid  the  abodes  of  man, 
but  where  trees  are  abundant  many  may  frequently  be  seen  about  houses  or  even  in 
the  village  streets  or  parks.  On  very  hot  mornings  in  midsummer  their  familiar 
though  not  very  musical  cry  of  “kow-kow”  is  said  to  presage  rain;  hence  the  name 
“rain  crow”  by  which  these  birds  are  frequently  known. 

The  two  most  abundant  species  in  the  United  States  are  the  black-billed  aud 
yellow-billed  cuckoos,  but  the  yellow-bill  (fig.  19)  is  more  abundant  and  better  known 
in  the  South  and  probably  is  the  more  important  economically . 


1  Coccyzus  americanust. 


38  . 


FARMERS 9  BULLETIN  755. 

The  common  observation  that  cuckoos  feed  largely  on  caterpillars  has  been  con¬ 
firmed  by  stomach  examination.  Furthermore,  they  appear  to  prefer  the  hairy  and 
spiny  species,  which  are  supposed  to  be  protected  from  the  attacks  of  birds.  Tho 
extent  to  which  cuckoos  eat  hairy  caterpillars  is  shown  by  the  inner  coatings  of  the 
stomachs,  which  frequently  are  so  pierced  by  these  hairs  and  spines  that  they  are 
completely  furred. 

For  this  treatise  110  stomachs  of  the  yellow-billed  cuckoo  were  available,  all  but 
one  taken  from  April  to  October.  That  one,  secured  in  Texas  in  January,  was  of  a 
bird  which  had  remained  in  the  United  States  after  its  companions  had  moved  on 
farther  south;  its  food  consisted  of  one  large  harvest  fly  or  “locust”  and  two  or  three 
spiders,  the  latter  very  unusual  food  at  this  season. 

The  contents  of  the  other  stomachs  were  practically  all  animal  matter,  only  a  small 
fraction  of  1  per  cent  of  vegetable  rubbish  being  found  in  one  stomach  taken  in  Texas 
in  August  and  one  seed  of  sour  gum  in  a  stomach  taken  in  Alabama  in  October. 
Over  92  per  cent  of  the  food  consists  of  three  orders  of  insects,  viz,  bugs  (12.25  per 
cent),  caterpillars  (65.63  per  cent),  and  grasshoppers  (14.34  per  cent). 

Bugs  found  in  37  stomachs  were  nearly  all  of  the  larger  kinds,  like  cicadas,  stink- 
bugs,  squash  bugs,  and  leaf-footed  bugs.  They  constitute  an  important  article  of 
food  from  April  to  August,  after  which  they  disappear.  July  is  the  month  of  greatest 
consumption  (29  per  cent),  and  the  average  for  the  four  months  from  April  to  July  ia 
more  than  a  fifth  of  the  whole  food  (21.98  per  cent).  Among  the  bugs  were  the  period¬ 
ical  cicadas  and  several  forms  injurious  to  oranges  and  melons  and  other  cucurbit 
crops. 

Caterpillars  were  found  in  91  stomachs  and  in  24  they  were  the  sole  contents.  One 
of  the  most  important  of  these  is  the  cotton  worm,  found  in  34  stomachs  in  numbers 
varying  from  1  to  150  each.  At  least  four  held  100  each,  and  it  is  probable  that  the 
average  number  of  these  insects  in  the  34  stomachs  was  50.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to 
comment  upon  the  economic  importance  of  this  work.  Until  the  introduction  of 
the  cotton  boll  weevil,  the  cotton  worm  was  the  worst  pest  with  which  the  southern 
planter  had  to  contend.  In  the  southern  tier  of  cotton  States  a  loss  of  a  fourth  of  the 
crop  was  formerly  expected,  and  if  the  yield  was  not  reduced  a  half  the  planter  con¬ 
sidered  himself  fortunate.  Examination  of  many  stomachs  shows  that  this  insect  ia 
a  common  article  of  daily  food  for  the  cuckoo,  as  well  as  for  many  other  birds,  and 
that  these  birds  must  exercise  a  very  important  restraint  upon  its  increase. 

The  apple-tree  tent  caterpillar  was  found  in  one  stomach.  Where  apples  are  grown 
this  insect  is  a  pest,  and  it  is  fortunate  that  there  is  a  bird  ready  and  willing  to  restrain 
its  ravages.  Another  caterpillar  eaten  by  the  cuckoo  was  the  red-humped  apple 
caterpillar,  an  insect  that  feeds  in  colonies  upon  apple  and  other  trees  and  often  does 
considerable  damage.  In  all,  caterpillars  constitute  two-thirds  of  the  total  food  of 
the  yellow-billed  cuckoo  in  the  South.  Few  birds  feed  so  exclusively  upon  any  one 
order  of  insects. 

The  natural  food  for  cuckoos  would  seem  to  be  bugs  and  caterpillars  which  feed  upon 
leaves,  as  these  birds  live  in  the  shade  among  the  leaves  of  trees  and  bushes.  Not  so 
with  grasshoppers,  whose  favorite  haunts  are  on  the  ground  in  the  blazing  sunshine, 
yet  these  creatures  are  the  second  largest  item  in  the  cuckoo’s  diet.  Grasshoppers  are 
so  agreeable  an  article  of  food  that  many  a  bird  apparently  forsakes  its  usual  feeding 
grounds  and  takes  to  the  earth  for  them.  Thus  it  is  with  the  cuckoos;  they  quit  their 
cool,  shady  retreats  in  order  to  gratify  their  taste  for  these  insects  of  the  hot  sunshine. 
But  there  are  some  members  of  the  grasshopper  order  that  live  in  the  shade,  as  katydids, 
tree  crickets,  and  ground  crickets,  and  these  are  all  used  to  vary  the  cuckoo’s  bill  of 
fare.  Grasshoppers,  crickets,  and  katydids  as  a  whole  constitute  14.34  per  cent  of  the 
cuckoo’s  diet. 

Beetles  (3.16  per  cent),  eaten  so  extensively  by  so  many  birds,  are  of  minor  im¬ 
portance  in  the  diet  of  the  cuckoo.  Only  a  trace  of  the  predacious  ground  beetles 


39 


COMMON  BIRDS  OF  SOUTHEASTERN  UNITED  STATES. 

was  found.  The  others  were  divided  into  small  portions  among  several  families  and 
no  special  pest  among  them  was  noted.  Ants,  wasps,  and  bees  comprise  lees  than  1 
per  cent  and  are  evidently  not  favorites.  A  few  spiders  are  taken,  mostly  in  June 
and  a  few  moths  also  are  eaten,  but  the  most  unexpected  food  for  a  cuckoo  was  three 

small  tree  frogs,  found  in  as  many  stomachs. 

As  the  birds  discussed  in  this  paper  were  collected  from  a  limited  area,  it  will  be  of 
interest  to  take  a  glimpse  at  some  facts  obtained  by  the  examination  of  stomachs  of 
the  same  species  taken  in  all  parts  of  the  United  States.  Of  a  total  of  about  300 
stomachs,  the  Colorado  potato  beetle  was  found  in  4;  the  dog-day  harvest  fly  or 
“locust,”  in  33;  the  cotton  worm  in  37,  many  stomachs  containing  over  100  indi¬ 
viduals;  the  yellow-necked  apple  caterpillar  in  34,  many  stomachs  completely  filled 
with  them;  the  fall  web  worm  in  3,  one  of  which  held  250;  and  the  tent  caterpillar 
in  7  stomachs,  frequently  to  the  extent  of  100  or  more  individuals  each.  In  all  of 


Fig.  20. — Bob-white.  Length,  about  10  inches. 

these  cases  the  statements  are  very  conservative,  as  these  larvae  are  so  soft  that  they 
soon  become  unrecognizable  in  the  process  of  digestion,  and  only  those  recently  eaten 
can  be  identified. 

The  yellow-billed  cuckoo  is  a  valuable  ally  of  the  farmer.  It  has  no  objectionable 
habits,  but  does  destroy  many  serious  agricultural  pests,  chief  among  which  are  the 
many  species  of  caterpillars,  of  which  this  bird  makes  about  two-thirds  of  its  food. — 

BOB-WHITE.1 

No  bird  is  better  known  to  country  residents  than  the  bob-white  (fig.  20).  The 
bird’s  cheery  calls  the  year  round  form  part  of  the  most  pleasant  associations  of  country 
life,  and  its  neat  form  and  harmonious  coloration,  and  especially  its  confiding  habits, 
make  it  a  general  favorite. 

Any  brushy  fence  row  serves  as  a  retreat  for  its  nest,  or  for  winter  shelter,  and  weed- 
covered  fields  are  its  favorite  feeding  places.  Weed  seeds  form  more  than  half  the 
total  food  and  include  those  of  all  the  worst  weed  pests  of  the  farm.  Among  them 
may  be  mentioned  crab,  cockspur,  witch,  and  foxtail  grasses,  sheep  sorrel,  smartweed, 


1  Colinus  virginianus . 


40 


FARMERS 9  BULLETIN  755. 


bindweed ,  lamb 's-quarters,  pigweed,  corn  cockle,  chickweed,  charlock,  partridge 
pea,  beggar  lice,  nail  grass,  rib  grass,  ragweed,  and  Spanish  needles. 

Acorns,  beechnuts,  chestnuts,  and  pine  seeds  make  up  about  2.5  per  cent  of  the 
food,  and  wild  fruits  about  10  per  cent.  The  fruits  include  berries  of  palmetto,  smilax, 
wax  myrtle,  mulberry,  sassafras,  blackberries  and  raspberries,  rose  haws,  cherry, 
sumac,  grapes,  sour  gum,  blueberries,  honeysuckle,  partridge  berry,  and  a  number 
of  others.  The  bob-white  feeds  to  a  slight  extent  upon  buds  and  leaves,  including 
those  of  yellow  and  red  sorrel,  cinquefoil,  and  clover. 

Grain  forms  scarcely  more  than  a  sixth  of  the  food,  but  most  of  it  is  taken  during 
winter  and  early  spring  when  nothing  but  waste  grain  is  available.  The  habit  of 
gleaning  this  after  the  harvest  is  beneficial  to  the  farm,  for  volunteer  grain  is  not 
desirable,  especially  where  it  serves  to  maintain  certain  insect  and  fungus  pests. 
Although  most  of  the  grain  and  seed  crops  grown  upon  the  farm  are  represented  in 
bob-white’s  dietary,  no  significant  damage  can  be  attributed  to  the  bird. 

Animal  food,  chiefly  insects,  composes  nearly  a  sixth  of  the  bird’s  subsistence. 
From  June  to  August,  inclusive,  when  insects  are  most  numerous,  their  proportion 
in  the  food  is  about  36  per  cent.  The  variety  of  insect  food  is  great  and  includes  a 
number  of  the  most  destructive  agricultural  pests.  Among  them  may  be  mentioned 
the  Colorado  potato  beetle,  12-spotted  cucumber  beetle,  bean  leaf  beetle,  squash  lady¬ 
bird,  wireworms,  May  beetles,  corn  billbugs,  clover  leaf  weevil,  cotton  boll  weevil, 
army  worm,  bollworm,  cutworms,  and  chinch  bug. 

On  the  strength  of  the  bob-white’s  feeding  on  the  boll  weevil,  a  campaign  has  been 
waged  in  several  Southern  States  for  complete  protection  for  the  bird.  This  move¬ 
ment  is  particularly  ill  advised,  since  this  bird  is  by  no  means  prominent  among  the 
enemies  of  the  boll  weevil.  Some  220  stomachs  of  bob-whites  collected  in  cotton 
fields  have  been  examined,  with  the  result  that  a  single  boll  weevil  was  found  in 
each  of  two  stomachs.  Reports  that  bob- whites  eat  large  numbers  of  boll  weevils 
are  based  on  field  observations,  which  are  very  liable  to  inaccuracy,  and  upon  the 
behavior  of  captive  birds,  which  has  little  if  any  value  as  an  indication  of  their  habits 
under  natural  conditions. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  food  habits  of  the  bob-white  undoubtedly  are  beneficial 
and  the  bird  should  be  maintained  in  numbers  on  every  farm.  This  is  not  to  say 
that  all  shooting  should  be  prohibited,  for  the  bird  is  very  prolific.  But  its  numbers 
should  not  be  reduced  below  what  the  available  nesting  sites  and  range  will  support. — 
w.  L.  M. 

BARN  OWL.1 

The  barn  owl  (fig.  21)  is  a  peculiar-looking  bird,  differing  considerably  from  our 
other  owls.  The  legs  are  long  and  slender  and  the  general  color  is  yellowish  buff,  with 
small  black  markings.  The  face  is  triangular  in  outline  and  appears  more  like  a  cari¬ 
cature  of  a  near-human  face  than  do  those  of  other  owls;  this  is  the  reason  for  the  name 
monkey-faced  owl.  The  odd  appearance  of  the  bird,  together  with  its  usual  seclusive 
habits,  gives  occasional  captures  an  undue  importance  in  the  popular  mind,  it  being 
usually  thought  that  some  great  rarity  has  been  captured.  The  bird  is  fairly  numer¬ 
ous,  however,  and  very  widely  distributed,  being  practically  cosmopolitan.  Its  notes 
include  a  thrilling  scream,  various  scraping  and  creaking  notes,  and  hisses. 

The  barn  owl’s  natural  nesting  sites  include  cavities  in  trees,  banks,  or  cliffs,  but 
the  birds  frequently  occupy  the  attics  of  deserted  buildings,  towers,  steeples,  and  the 
like.  The  nest  itself  often  consists  only  of  relics  of  pellets  of  bones  and  hair,  disgorged 
by  the  parent-birds.  However  that  may  be,  the  presence  of  this  material  about  the 
nest  renders  it  easy  to  make  a  study  of  the  food  of  the  barn  owl.  So  far  such  study 
has  resulted  uniformly  in  favor  of  the  bird. 


1  Aluco  pratincola. 


41 


COMMON  BIRDS  OF  SOUTHEASTERN  UNITED  STATES 


For  years  barn  owls  have  nested  in  one  of  the  towers  of  <  ,njan  Institution 

in  Washington.  Hundreds  of  pellets  have  been  .  and  examined  tc 

determine  the  number  and  kinds  of  animals  represented  in  them.  This  is  a  compara¬ 
tively  easy  task,  since  the  skulls  of  the  animals  eaten  usually  arc  intact  In  one  1. »i 
of  675  pellets  collected  at  this  place  there  were  found  a  tot 
of  which  1,119  were  meadow  mice,  452  house  mice,  and  134  < 


The  barn  owl  takes  only 
a  small  proportion  of  birds 
or  other  useful  animals 
and  consequently  is  of  great 
value  to  agriculture.  In 
the  Western  States  it  not 
only  feeds  upon  the  de¬ 
structive  rodents  men¬ 
tioned  above,  but  also  upon 
pocket  gophers,  which  in¬ 
dividually  are  even  more 
injurious. 

It  should  be  borne  in 
mind  also  that  the  barn  owl 
is  by  no  means  the  only 
beneficial  species  of  its 
kind,  for  with  the  excep¬ 
tion  of  the  great  horned 
owl ,  all  of  our  owls  are  much 
more  useful  than  injurious. 
They  deserve  almost  com¬ 
plete  protection  rather  than 
the  persecution  to  which 
they  are  customarily  sub¬ 
jected. — w.  L.  M. 


TURKEY  BUZZARD.1 

Turkey  buzzards  (fig. 
22)  are  familiar  features  of 
southern  landscapes.  On 
the  ground  they  appear  un¬ 
couth  and  awkward,  but  in 
the  air  show  a  skill ,  particu¬ 
larly  in  soaring,  approached 
by  few  other  birds.  Their 
wonderful  soaring  flight  has 
been  a  subject  of  study  by 
a  multitude  of  observers, 
and  the  buzzard  is  not  only 

the  model  but  also  the  inspiration  of  the  American  invented  airplane^  The  bird  is 
chiefly  black  in  color,  but  the  naked  skin  of  the  head  and  neck  and  t  e 
bill  are  bright  red.2 


Fig.  21. — Barn  owl.  Length,  about  18  inches. 


1  Cathartes  aura  septentrionalis.  in  Hisfri- 

2  The  black  vulture  ( Catharista  urubu),  more  abundant  near  the  seacoast  and  more  soi 

bution  than  the  turkey  buzzard,  differs  from  the  latter  in  having  t  he  head  and  nee  '  &e ’  flapping 
surface  of  the  wings  silvery.  The  flight  of  this  vulture  is  more  labored,  and  accompamt  }  “  - 

of  the  wings.  In  general  habits  the  two  birds  are  alike. 


FARMERS  BULLETIN  755. 


Buzzards  nest  on  the  ground  under  brush  piles,  bushes,  or  palmettos,  or  in  hollow 
logs  or  rock  crevices.  They  roost  usually  on  dead  branches,  and  sometimes,  especially 
in  winter,  congregate  in  large  numbers. 

All  vultures  specialize  in  feeding  on  carrion.  While  under  natural  conditions  the 
number  of  dead  animals  available  for  them  is  somewhat  limited,  yet.  where  the  human 
population  is  considerable 
and  sanitary  conditions 
not  over  good,  there  is 
much  work  for  buzzards, 
and  they  fill  an  important 
place.  For  nearly  three 
centuries  their  work  has 
been  appreciated  at  its  full 
value  in  the  South,  and 
these  birds  have  been 
scrupulously  protected. 

The  turkey  buzzard  now 
is  threatened  with  persecu¬ 
tion  in  the  land  where 
heretofore  it  has  received 
the  most  zealous  protec¬ 
tion,  for  the  bird  has  been 
accused  of  spreading  such 
diseases  of  live  stock  as 
hog  cholera  and  anthrax. 

The  charge  that  it  spreads 
hog  cholera  has  never  been 
demonstrated,  and  until 
this  is  done  judgment 
should  be  suspended.  Its 
relation  to  anthrax  has 
been  investigated  with  the 
result  that  in  the  distribu¬ 
tion  of  the  disease  the  bird 
must  be  considered  a 
minor  agency  as  compared 
with  man  and  various  do¬ 
mestic  and  certain  wild 
animals. 

The  nature  of  their  food 
would  indicate  that  buz¬ 
zards  have  strong  digestive 
powers.  The  spores  of  an¬ 
thrax,  or  charbon,  a  viru¬ 
lent  stock  disease,  have 


Fig.  22.— Turkey  buzzard.  Length,  about  30  inches. 


been  shown  by  two  independent  investigations  to  be  destroyed  by  passing  through  the 
alimentary  canals  of  buzzards.  Anthrax  spores  are  not  destroyed  in  the  digestive 
tracts  of  other  carrion-feeding  animals,  as  the  dog,  cat,  hog,  chicken,  or  opossum.  It 
has  also  been  shown  “that  the  virus  of  hog  cholera  is  digested  in  the  intestinal  tract 
of  buzzards,  and  that  the  droppings  of  buzzards  fed  on  the  flesh  of  hogs  dead  from 
cholera  do  not  produce  cholera,  when  mixed  in  the  feed  of  hogs.”1 

It  is  true  that  buzzards  may  carry  the  germs  of  anthrax  or  other  stock  diseases  on 
tlieii  plumage,  feet,  or  bills,  and  thus  distribute  them;  but  all  the  other  animals  just 


1  Twenty-sixth  Annual  Report,  State  Board  of  Health  of  Florida,  p.  204,  1914, 


COMMON  BIRDS  OF  SOUTHEASTERN  UNITED  STATES. 


43 


mentioned  may  similarly  carry  disease  germs  on  the  surface  of  their  bodies,  as  may 
also  flies,  domestic  pigeons  and  other  poultry,  horses,  mules,  and  cattle,  not  to  mention 
members  of  the  human  family.  In  fact  at  the  same  time  that  steps  are  being  taken 
greatly  to  reduce  or  exterminate  a  wild  bird — the  buzzard — which  may  possibly  play 
a  minor  part  in  the  transmission  of  anthrax,  farmers  are  harboring  several  domestic 
animals  that  have  far  greater  possibilities  as  spreaders  of  the  disease.  The  fact  that 
anthrax  may  be  carried  by  flies  is  more  than  sufficient  to  explain  the  most  severe 
epidemics. 

Obviously,  it  is  unfair  to  attempt  to  place  the  blame  for  general  dissemination  of 
stock  diseases  on  the  buzzard.  Considering  the  multitude  of  ways  in  which  these 
diseases  may  be  spread,  it  can  not  be  doubted  that  stock  diseases  would  be  as  widely 
distributed  as  now  if  turkey  buzzards  were  eliminated,  as  has  been  proposed.  What 
amounts  to  proof  of  this  is  the  fact  that  hog  cholera  at  times  is  virulent  and  seriously 
destructive  in  regions  where  there  are  few  or  no  turkey  buzzards,  as  in  certain  Northern 
States  and  Canadian  Provinces. 

Attacks  in  the  South  by  buzzards  upon  living  farm  animals  indicate  that  there  are 
too  many  buzzards  there  for  the  best  economic  interests.  In  the  North,  where  buz¬ 
zards  are  fewer,  such  attacks  are  believed  never  to  occur.  Reduction  in  the  number 
of  buzzards  may  be  desirable,  especially  if  accompanied  by  or  resulting  from  a  proper 
system  of  carrion  disposal,  but  there  is  a  wide  gulf  both  in  meaning  and  desirability 
between  reduction  in  numbers  and  extermination. 

Practically  the  only  way  to  carry  on  a  destructive  campaign  against  the  buzzard 
would  be  by  shooting.  Inevitably  the  guns  would  largely  be  in  the  hands  of  the  less 
responsible  classes  of  the  population,  and  many  birds  other  than  buzzards  would 
undoubtedly  be  shot.  This  is  a  forcible  argument  against  undertaking  extermination 
of  buzzards  unless  it  shall  be  definitely  proved  to  be  necessary. — w.  l.  m. 


PUBLICATIONS  OF  THE  U.  S.  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE  RELATING 

TO  THE  FOOD  HABITS  OF  WILD  BIRDS. 


FOR  FREE  DISTRIBUTION  BY  THE  DEPARTMENT. 

i . 

The  English  Sparrow  as  a  Pest.  (Farmers’  Bulletin  493.) 

Some  Common  Game,  Aquatic,  and  Rapacious  Birds  in  Relation  to  Man.  (Farmers’ 
Bulletin  497.) 

Food  of  Some  Well-known  Birds  of  Forest,  Farm,  and  Garden.  (Farmers’  Bulletin 

506.) 

Some  Common  Birds  Useful  to  the  Farmer.  (Farmers’  Bulletin  630.) 

Common  Birds  of  Southeastern  United  States  in  Relation  to  Agriculture.  (Farmers’ 
Bulletin  755.) 

Canaries:  Their  Care  and  Management.  (Farmers’  Bulletin  770.) 

The  Crow  in  Its  Relation  to  Agriculture.  (Farmers’  Bulletin  1102.) 

Eleven  Important  Wild-duck  Foods.  (Department  Bulletin  205.) 

Propagation  of  Wild-duck  Foods.  (Department  Bulletin  465.) 

Food  Habits  of  Seven  Species  of  American  Shoal-water  Ducks.  (Department  Bulle¬ 
tin  862.) 

Economic  Value  of  the  Starling  in  the  United  States.  (Department  Bulletin  868.) 
Wild  Ducks  and  Duck  Foods  of  the  Bear  River  Marshes,  Utah.  (Department  Bulle¬ 
tin  936.) 

Farm  Help  from  the  Birds.  (Yearbook  Separate  843.) 

FOR  SALE  BY  THE  SUPERINTENDENT  OF  DOCUMENTS,  GOVERNMENT  PRINTING 

OFFICE,  WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 

Fifty  Common  Birds  of  Farm  and  Orchard.  (Farmers’  Bulletin  513,  colored  plates.) 
Price,  15  cents. 

Birds  in  Relation  to  the  Alfalfa  Weevil.  (Department  Bulletin  107.)  Price,  15  cents. 
Food  Habits  of  the  Thrushes  of  the  United  States.  (Department  Bulletin  280.) 
Price,  5  cents. 

The  Relation  of  Sparrows  to  Agriculture.  (Biological  Survey  Bulletin  15.)  Price, 
10  cents. 

Birds  of  a  Maryland  Farm.  (Biological  Survey  Bulletin  17.)  Price,  20  cents. 

Birds  of  California  in  Relation  to  the  Fruit  Industry.  (Biological  Survey  Bulletin 
34,  Pt.  2.)  Price,  40  cents. 

Hawks  and  Owls  from  the  Standpoint  of  the  Farmer. 

61.)  Price,  5  cents. 

44 


(Biological  Survey  Circular 


ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  U.  S.  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 


Secretary  of  Agriculture - Henry  C.  Wallace. 

Assistant  Secretary _ C.  W.  Pugsley. 

Director  of  Scientific  Work _ E.  D.  Ball. 

Director  of  Regulatory  Work _ _ _ 

Weather  Bureau _ Charles  F.  Marvin,  Chief. 

Bureau  of  Agricultural  Economics _ Henry  C.  Taylor,  Chief. 

Bureau  of  Animal  Industry _ ; _ John  R.  Moiiler,  Chief. 

Bureau  of  Plant  Industry _ William  A.  Taylor,  Chief. 

Forest  Service _ W.  B.  Greeley,  Chief. 

Bureau  of  Chemistry _ Walter  G.  Campbell.  Acting  Chief. 

Bureau  of  Soils _ Milton  Whitney,  Chief. 

Bureau  of  Entomology _ L.  O.  Howard,  Chief. 

Bureau  of  Biological  Survey _ E.  W.  Nelson,  Chief. 

Bureau  of  Public  Roads _ Thomas  FI.  MacDonald,  Chief. 

Fixed  Nitrogen  Research  Laboratory _ F.  G.  Cottrell,  Director. 

Division  of  Accounts  and  Disbursements _ A.  Zappone,  Chief. 

Division  of  Publications _  Edwin  C.  Powell,  Acting  Chief. 

Library _ Claribel  R.  Barnett,  Librarian. 

States  Relations  Service _ A.  C.  True,  Director. 

Federal  Horticultural  Board _ C.  L.  Marlatt,  Chairman. 

Insecticide  and  Fungicide  Board _ J.  K.  Haywood,  Chairman. 

Packers  and  Stockyards  Administration _ 1 Chester  Morrill,  Assistant  to  the 

Grain  Future  Trading  Act  Administration _j  Secretary. 

Office  of  the  Solicitor _ _  R.  W.  Williams,  Solicitor. 


This  bulletin  is  a  contribution  from— 

Bureau  of  Biological  Survey -  E.  W.  Nelson,  Chief. 

Division  of  Food  Habits  Research - W.  L.  McAtee,  in  Charge. 

45 


WASHINGTON  :  GOVERNMENT  PRINTING  OFFICE  :  1923 


